


Hide Not Thy Poison

by ChimaeraKitten



Category: Sky High (2005), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, I realized this crossover didn't exist and if I wanted it to exist I would have to write it so I did, M/M, not super serious, shipping is minimal and also not till the end really, so bear that in mind, yes editing we do not die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-09-14 08:58:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 22,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9172102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChimaeraKitten/pseuds/ChimaeraKitten
Summary: A whole school full of superheroes in training seemed impossible, yet here they were, and they had a mission. Meanwhile, Will and Warren go missing, Royal Pain returns, and Layla learns a secret she was never supposed to know.Formerly titled "YJ/SH Crossover"





	1. Not Quite Undercover

Tim should have known that it would be bad when Batman pulled him out of school for a mission. He hadn’t anticipated that “pulled out of school” meant for the next three months not the next three days. As it was, tm was wishing desperately that he was back in his seat at Gotham academy, listening to his English teacher drone on and on about the historical significance of _Robin Hood_.

Instead Tim was holding onto a bus seat for dear life, while Bart bounced excitedly across the aisle and Jaime looked entirely nonplussed leaning against the window next to him. It also didn’t help that the girl sitting to his right was a dead ringer for Poison Ivy.

This mission was going to be decidedly not fun.

 

* * *

 

This mission was going to be fun!

First off, Bart was assigned it with Jaime. Which was crash. Super crash. Totally super mega crash.

Secondly he was going to get to go to a school where he didn’t have to hide is powers. Also crash.

Third, this mission wasn’t supposed to be life threatening. Well, strictly, none of their missions were _supposed_ to be life threatening, but things had a tendency to go that way. Not this mission though. This one was supposed to be completely safe. Well not really, because it was still an investigation, but it would be 96% more un-life threatening than their other missions.

Anyway. This mission was going to be fun, no matter hoe many times Robin (Tim, but Bart wasn’t supposed to call him that) glared at him from across the aisle. He was probably mad the Bart was excited of the flying school bus. His loss. Those bats really needed to loosen up and have fun (wally told him Nightwing used to be fun, but Bart found that hard to believe)

A jolting, painful landing on the tarmac interrupted his thoughts. Typical of a school bus, even a flying one, to be all jolty. At least Bart thought so, he wasn’t exactly sure, he hadn’t actually been on a school bus before.

He was interrupted from yet another train of thought by a crush of kids streaming by him to get off the bus.

 

* * *

 

THE DAY BEFORE

Jaime didn’t _mean_ to drop the giant robot on the school, no matter what mom and dad accused him of. Or how many timed Milagro, Paco, and Brenda congratulated him.

He certainly hadn’t meant you get himself picked for a “months long infiltration and reconnaissance mission.”

He wondered why Kaldur didn’t just say “undercover.”

Oh wait, he was explaining why now.

“You aren’t going to be undercover specifically, the school administration, at least will know who you are, you just aren’t going to tell them why you’re there. Or your secret identities, or anything about the league or the team. Is that clear?”

Everyone Nodded.

“Good. Robin, you’ll be running point. Try to keep some sort of low profile,” Kaldur said, with the weariness of knowing that team missions were never low profile for long. “Here are you fake identities.” Kaldur passed out three manila envelopes to the assembled team members. “Kid Flash, Blue beetle, your first names are the same as your real ones for simplicity. Robin, yours has changed.”

“Not Alvin Draper _again_?”

Jaime was kind of surprised by his tone. Robin was almost always strictly professional, and rarely showed any kind of camaraderie with anyone except Nightwing. There must be some sort of History with the name. Well, it didn’t matter because Kaldur was dismissing them.

“Meet back here at 0-600 hours tomorrow to zeta to Sacramento.”

 

* * *

 

            Frankly, until Tim got off the bus, he hadn’t fully believed Aqualad. Despite everything he’d seen, a community full of superheroes nobody had hear of all living together in northern California seemed like a stretch. But here they were. Sky High. _Sigh._ Things were about to get complicated.

            Wait, was that kid on fire?

Okay, Okay, the kid extinguished himself. Her was supposed to be on fire.

This did not bode well.

 

* * *

 

            The principal looked like an older version of wonder woman. It was kind of unnerving actually. He couldn’t figure out of it was actual facial resemblance or just the way she carried herself. Regardless, she was imposing.

“… Behalf of everyone, I would like to welcome you to Sky High.” She even sounded like wonder woman. “We don’t exactly have a standard procedure in place here for transfers, so why don’t you describe your powers to me so I can place you in the correct track.”

Tim had no idea what that meant, but he answered anyway. “I’m Alvin Draper—“ he held out his hand to shake “—and I don’t have any powers.”

She seemed genuinely surprised by that, to the point she completely ignored his hand. “ Here it says that you’re already an active sidekick, and to batman no less. You don’t have any powers?”

She seemed genuinely surprised by that. “Here it says that you’re already an active sidekick, and to Batman no less. You don’t have any powers?”

Tim had met plenty of people over the years who were sure Batman had superpowers which was why he was able to answer without hesitation “No, I’m totally normal.” He put his hand down, as it was clear that she had no intension of taking it.

“Interesting that Batman wanted you enrolled here…” she trailed off, clearly confused.

“You have a great science program.”

“Well, I’m putting you on the Hero Support track then. You’re a sophomore, correct?”

Tim Nodded.

She typed something into her computer and the ancient printer in the corner of the room hummed to life. She left the paper there and turned to Jaime. “And what about you?”

Jaime unceremoniously armored up.

Principal Powers (Tim had finally found the nameplate amidst all the clutter on her desk) nearly knocked her coffee to the floor with an involuntary hand motion. Considering she’d certainly seen worse in her years of teaching, it must have meant she was one of those people who viewed Blue Beetle as a supervillain after the reach fiasco.

“Um, Sorry,” Jaime said, de-armoring “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She rubbed her temples. “Weren’t you …”

“Evil?” Bart cut in, “Nah, Blue’s a friend.”

This evidently was enough for Principal Powers, least for now, because she said “Hero track then. You’re a junior?” She waited for Jaime’s nod before a second flurry of typing got the printer humming again, well not so much humming as making a sound like an old truck when the engine’s about to explode. It was a very old printer.

“And you?” she asked Bart.

“Bart Jackson, Speedster, freshman.” He responded, with clear impatience.  
“Okay!” she said waiting for the printer give a final creaking gasp of life and spit out a third and final piece of paper. “I’ll show you to your classes!”


	2. This Place is Weird

After dropping Jaime off at a class called “Mad science” and Bart at freshman P.E. Principal powers took Tim to Hero Support. From what he’d seen of the other’s classes, they were full of cheerful, outgoing “popular” kids. The moment he stepped into his class he knew it was different. For one, everyone in this class looked like the were taking fashion advise from 2005, and two, the teacher (a middle aged man) was wearing something that resembled a robin costume. Tim was suddenly very glad that Dick had gotten the Nightwing costume when he got older, though he doubted that Dick could ever look as sad in a kid’s costume as this guy did. Tim hoped he wasn’t looking into his future.

“Here’s you new student Mr. Boy” Principal Powers gave Tim a slight push into the classroom, and then just… left, without another word, closing the door behind her.

“Um, Hi, I’m Alvin Draper, Al for short, and I’m the transfer?” He didn’t know why It came out as a question.

“I believe there’s a seat in the back, next to Layla,” said Mr.… Boy? (Was that right?) Pointing.

Tim followed his finger to the girl from the bus, the one who looked exactly like Poison Ivy. Tim nodded and took his seat quickly, without making eye contact with anyone.

Satisfied, Mr. Boy resumed his lesson “Now, the basics of a grapple gun are…”

 

* * *

 

Everyone was starring at him. He guessed that’s what happened when a woman unceremoniously pushed you into a room, announced you as “The new transfer student” and then left immediately.

“Who are you?” that was the teacher. Jaime wondered if he was an alien. His enormous head certainly made that seem like the case.

“Um, I’m Jaime Moran?”

“Well I believe Mr. Peace over there is lacking of a lab partner Mr. Moran.”

            Jaime took the only empty seat in class, next to a slightly surly-looking student. Jaime couldn’t be sure if the guy was angry at being assigned a lab partner or just like that.

“Um, Hi?”

The guy grunted. Jaime was beginning to see why he didn’t have a partner.

<The metahuman is hostile, recommend tactic: termination>

Jaime sighed. Bad enough that the scarab screamed throughout the entire meeting with eth principal (<Do not compromise your identity to the unknown metahuman Jaime Reyes!>) but if it had already decided it disliked his new lab partner things were going to go badly. Though of course it was impossible to tell if the scarab actually disliked someone or not. Jaime was pretty sure it liked Bart, but it still recommended disintegration all the time.

The teacher was saying something “The basic parts of a sonic cannon are the power source and the sound generator. Depending on cannon design, the sound generator can be something as complex as a sonic oscillator or as simple as a powerful speaker. Here—“ he gestured to the row of boxes on the table in front to him “—are the parts for a simple sonic cannon. The necessary schematics are in your textbooks. Page 127. Get going.”

Jaime saw that everyone else was getting up. He looked at his lab partner, who seemed disinterested, and completely content to just keep sitting there. With a sigh, Jaime got up and joined the like to the front. He watched the girl in front of him, since she seemed to know what she was doing, and took duplicates of the parts she took. He returned to his table to find that his partner had at least opened the textbook to the correct page. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

He dumped the parts in a pile and started picking through it for anything that resembled the parts on the diagram.

<This is beneath us>

He didn’t bather to answer, because his lab partner had stirred to life, evidently for good this time, though e still looked dour. He was assembling the parts into something that sort of resembled various sonic cannons Jaime had seen. He just watched uncertain.

“You going to help or not?”

Unfair, Jaime thought, I got all the parts. “sure, I just don’t really know how.”

The guy looked at him “You don’t know how to assemble a sonic cannon?” he said, incredulous, as if sonic cannons were the most basic part of any science curriculum.

“I’ve never had reason to build one before.”

<This toy has barely 1% of our sonic capabilities. This exercise in useless Jaime Reyes>

The guy processed that for a moment, and then said “well here’s the trigger, and it has to wire into this part, which on the power source, which wires into the speaker. That’s basically it.”

“It’s that simple?”

“Well this one only has one setting and the difficult parts were prebuilt.”

“Ah. Thanks.”

The guy grunted again, much more cordially. “I’m Warren by the way.”

“Jaime”

“Nice to meet you Jaime.”

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

 

* * *

 

This was bad. They’d roped Bart into a game of “save the citizen” whatever that was, and now his partner and their opponents were going at it, free for all. Bart wasn’t sure where to step in. he didn’t want to hurt the guys. Despite them seemingly having a decent grasp on their powers, both his partner and the “villains” clearly had no actual experience.

His partner, a fire breather, was going up against one of them who had freeze vision. The other guy was a super jumper, and mostly he was just endangering himself by getting between them.

“Hey freshie, you going to help out!?” his partner shouted, attempting to free his frozen feet.

Unfortunately the exclamation had the effect of making their opponents remember Bart was there, because both of them turned to him. The super-jumper lunged at him, catching only open air where brat had been a split second before.

He looked confused “where’d you—“

He looked less confused after Bart slammed into him and sent him flying into the wall. Ooh was that to hard? Bart hoped the guy didn’t break anything.

The “Oooooh!” sound from the audience almost drowned out the groan of pain from the guy, who had now slid down the wall and onto the floor.

Bart sped over too him, looking for broken ribs.

“LOOK OUT.”  
On instinct, Bart dodged, and the wall where he’d been standing froze solid.

He turned around to see that the ice vision guy had his partner frozen completely to the floor. He was the one who yelled the warning.

“30 SECONDS!”

Bart dodged several more shots from the ice-guy before both of them realized that the strategy was ineffective, and the ice-guy started building a sort of wall around the spike pit, and the mannequin slowly being lowered into it.

Bart ran past his partner, (who was breathing on his feet) past the freeze vision guy, (who was now attempting to ice the floor) _through_ the ice wall (nobody ever accounted for phasing) and up the ramp to the pit.

In midair he grabbed the mannequin and went crashing to the floor on the other side off the spikes, skidding into the ice wall. Ow.

“THE FRESHMEN WIN!”

Double ow. Loud. The P.E. teacher was loud. Not as loud as Black Canary but still. Ow.

He rolled over and got to his feet to the sound of the gymnasium screaming. On his way back to his seat he heard a bunch of tidbits as to why they were all so excited.

“—Only the second time—“

“—Can’t believe a freshman did it—“

“—All by himself—“

“—Better than speed and lash—“

“Pfft, you never saw speed and lash.”

“But still, new kid is crazy!”

So much for low profile.


	3. Lunch

By lunch, word of the transfer students had spread throughout the school. Layla didn’t particularly care. One of them sat next to her for all of first period, and he seemed pretty boring. Quiet. She figured the school gossips were about to be disappointed.

Boy was she wrong.

First off, the new kids had claimed the group’s table (hers and Will’s and Warren’s an everyone’s) not their fault, they didn’t know.

But also the lunchroom was buzzing with weird rumors.

“—Won Save the Citizen singlehandedly—“

“—And he’s only a freshman—“

“—Speedster—“

“Like Speed?”

“No not at all.”

“So slower? I mean, Speed was one of the school’s best. Before.”

“No, I mean this guy could run _laps_ around Speed. He vibrated right through solid ice.”

“No way! Only the Flash—“

Whatever the end of that sentence could have been, it was lost, because the speakers moved away. But it wasn’t the end of the gossip. Whispers of “Justice League” and other similarly outrageous things filled the air. Layla rolled her eyes. There was no way bunch of teenagers, no matter how well one of them had done in Save the Citizen, were members of the Justice League.

She felt someone take her hand, and she smiled up at Will.

“Who’s that at our table?”

Typical Will, always the last to get any gossip. Not that she’d ever admit to indulging in gossip.

“Transfer students, you haven’t heard?”

“I didn’t know Sky High took transfer students.”

She pulled him into the lunch line as she said “Rumor has it Batman is the one who had them placed here.”

“No way,” he said, craning his neck for another look, “ _The_ Batman?”

“Rumor says anyway.” She could understand why he was interested. At Sky High Will’s parents were the most well known, but even they didn’t hold a candle to _Batman_. He was on a whole different level. Obviously Will would want to find out more. She just hoped he wouldn’t get all hurt and defensive.

“We can ask them in person anyway, the others are already trying to claim the table back.”

It was true. She looked over to watch Zach, Magenta, Ethan, and Warren taking some of the remaining seats, causing the new kids to slide down to the end of the table.

After getting their food (the vegetarian option for Layla) they realized the only seats remaining at the table were the ones right next to the new kids.

Will and Layla looked at each other, shrugged, and took the seats.

 

* * *

 

The Poison Ivy girl, Layla, was sitting next to Tim again. Third time today. It was starting to freak him out.

After a few seconds of awkward silence during which the other people at the table sized up Tim, Bart, and Jaime, one of them (the boy with the bleach blonde hair) burst out: “So what’s up with you guys?”

This apparently was some sort of signal because everyone started talking at once.

“Who are you?”

“Is it true batman sent you?”

“How’d you win Save the Citizen?”

“Why’re you wearing sunglasses inside?”

It made Tim’s head hurt. He probably should have slept last night, but he deemed it more important to read the files on this case. Which was probably stupid because he couldn’t remember anything from the files anyway. Where was he? Oh yeah, the kids.

“I’m Alvin—Al, and that’s Bart and Jaime. No, I don’t know, and it’s a fashion choice.”

The kids blinked. It was clear they were trying to decipher which answer went with which question.

One of them-the purple girl-said, “If Batman didn’t send you, who did?”

Stick to the story. “Nobody. Bart’s been having trouble with secret identities, and Jaime dropped a giant robot on his school last week.”

“I didn’t _mean_ to!”

The surly-looking guy at the end of the table nodded sagely, as if he too understood the problem of dropping giant robots on schools. The rest of the table was reevaluating Jaime, wondering how he could drop a giant robot on a school.

Layla leaned foreword, stuck her hand out and said, “I’m Layla. How are you liking Sky High?”

“Seems fine so far.”

She shook their hands, ending with Tim. “you’re in my Hero Support Class. What are your powers?”

“None. I’m a normal human.”

For the second time today someone looked genuinely surprised at the realization. “Why transfer here then?” she said, tilting her head to one side.

Tim made an earnest attempt to play it casual, despite her kind of freaking him out. He’s seen Poison Ivy do the exact same head motion while contemplating what poison to use on him next.

“Change of pace.” He shrugged.

“No, I mean, how’d you get in? They don’t let normal people here unless they have supers in their families.”

“Special circumstances.”

She apparently took the hint, because she backed off.

“So… What about you then?’ she said, turning to Jaime. “ You dropped a robot on your school?”

He sighed. “I did, yeah. (No that’s not ‘unnecessary information’ this is a conversation!) It was attacking me and I didn’t look where I threw it.”

Layla looked confused. While she tied to puzzle her way through Jaime’s answer the guy she sat down with spoke up: “So what are your powers then? Flight? Super strength?”

“I’d show you, but I don’t want to freak anyone out.”

Poor Jaime, Tim thought. The Principal’s reaction must have unnerved him. He’d really been having trouble with public image lately.

“We’ve all seen worse I’m sure,” said the guy.

Jaime stayed silent.

“Will, don’t pressure the poor guy,” Layla said, punctuated with a slight kick under the table.

Jaime looked grateful to be off the hook, and the rest of the meal was spent in silence as the food was consumed with the gusto of teenagers who wished to down cafeteria food without tasting it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> seriously, if anyone is interested in betaing this...


	4. Will's House

Jaime was glad for the save from Layla. He was pretty sure that if he’d just said something nobody would have believed him, and a demonstration could have caused a panic. As it was he was probably saved from the reveal until tomorrow. (He had Gym second period, and hadn’t been called up yet) he didn’t look forward to that.

<The opinions of these larvae are inconsequential Jaime Reyes>

The scarab was always _such_ a comfort.

The class he was in now was called Algebra II, which had appeared completely normal on the schedule, but upon entering he found that the whole class was word problems about how much it would cost to buy 500 watermelons to crush an alien spaceship with. (The scarab informed him that that particular tactic would be “ineffectual.”) At least AP Spanish, his third period class, had been completely normal, if you didn’t count the teacher having a third eye.

He missed El Paso High. It was fun going to school with Bart, but they didn’t have any classes together, plus he missed Paco and Brenda it was hard to get through Spanish without their jokes.

He mostly just hoped Robin found out what was going on here so the mission could end quickly.

 

* * *

 

By the time sixth period rolled around Bart was ready to, as Garfield would put it “Blow this popsicle stand” all the weird looks he was getting only made sitting still for hours on end worse. He was starting to think winning that game earlier was a mistake. He wished he had classes with Tim or Jaime, but evidently the freshmen here didn’t mix much with the other grades.

By the time the final bell rang Bart had worn a hole in the floor under his desk with foot tapping. (Earning him even more looks) He was pretty sure he left smoke in his wake as he tore out of the classroom and down to the bus loop to meet Jaime.

Evidently he miscalculated because nobody else was here yet. (Whoops) He ran back into the building, searching two hallways before he ran into Jaime, Tim, and… The kids from lunch?

“Hey Bart! There you are! Will here—“ he gestured, “—was nice enough to invite us to his place to join their study group for the hero-school specific material.” The way Tim said it made it clear that this was not optional.

Bart sighed. Nothing quite as moding as sitting in some guy’s house studying and making small talk.

 

* * *

 

The guy’s (Will’s) house seemed thoroughly ordinary on the outside, until Jaime leaned over and whispered that he was detecting signs of a secret base underground. Crash.

The inside was normal, except for the two people in spandex suits watching TV in the family room. Well, Bart was pretty sure that was out of the ordinary, but he’d never lived in a normal house so it was hard to tell.

Will introduced them: “My mom Josie DeMarco-Stronghold AKA Jetstream, and my dad, Steve Stronghold AKA The Commander.”

He seemed embarrassed, but Bart couldn’t tell if it was of his parents or because he wasn’t sure how the newcomers would react. Taking his cues from Layla and the rest of the 2005 gang’s casual demeanor, Bart stuck his hand out and said “Hi, I’m Bart.”

“New friends Will?” asked Steve, looking at his son while shaking Bart’s hand.

“Transfer students,” was all Will offered as an answer.

Steve raided his eyebrows, “I didn’t know sky high took transfers,” he said, finally releasing Bart’s hand.

“Special circumstances.” Tim chimed in.

“Ah, well, Will, your mother and I have to go get the key to the city so you kids will be alone.”

“Thanks Dad! You and mom have fun!” Will responded, practically pushing them out the door. When it finally closed he breathed a sigh of relief. “Glad they’re gone! Oomph.”

“I like your parents! Great stories,” one of the kids Bart hadn’t been introduced to yet said.

Will glared. “That’s why I want them gone! I can’t stand you guys fawning over them. And, no offense to you new guys,” he glanced at them, but new people are the worst.”

“Wait, are your parents famous or something?” Evidently this was not the thing to say, Bart reflected, because everyone was staring at him now.

“Where are you from that you don’t know The Commander and Jetstream?”

“Uh… Central City?”

“I think they were on the news once in El Paso, but I’ve never heard of them other than that,” Jaime said. At least people were looking at him, and not Bart now.

“I think they helped out on the final day of the reach invasion, not with the generators, but with disaster relief.” Tim interjected.

“You guys can talk about Will’s parents all day, or we could tackle some of this homework. My shift starts in an hour.” That was the surly guy, Waldo? Wendell?

“Warren’s right. We really have to start this guys,”’ Layla said, clearing newspapers off the coffee table.

 

* * *

 

Half an hour into a discussion of sonic cannons (evidently the science teacher kept things simple by teaching the same units to all the grades and just changing the difficulty of the test) One of the guys, Zack, said: “So wait, you wouldn’t show your powers in the cafeteria because it would freak people out, why not here? It’s not destructive is it?”

Jaime kept working, and then when the guy cleared his throat, he looked up. “Sorry. What was that?”

“Your powers dude.”

He looked for Tim’s approval (a slight nod) before replying, “Only if nobody freaks out.”

“Psh, how bad can it be?”

<This is inadvisable Jaime Reyes>

Despite still being unsure, Jaime called up the armor.

The reaction was immediate. Zach fell off the couch and Magenta and Ethan looked like they were ready to bolt.

Will and Layla looked a bit alarmed. Warren looked intrigued.

Jaime disarmed. “You can see why I didn’t do that in the cafeteria.”

There was a beet of silence, and then everyone started talking at once.

“You’re Blue Beetle?”

“Weren’t you evil?”

“Why’re you here?”

“Does technology count as a superpower?”

“I thought you looked familiar.”

“Why’d they let you into the school?”

“Hey, hey,” that was Bart, “you guys promised you wouldn’t freak out.”

They looked a bit embarrassed.

“I’m not evil, I promise. I was just being controlled.”

Nobody really had a response to that, so everyone went back to drawing blueprints a bit awkwardly.

Eventually, Layla made another attempt at small talk: “So, how do you guys know each other?”

Jaime hesitated, so Bart spoke up first. “We’re on a team together.”

Layla creased her brows and tilted her head. “Like a sports team?”

“Well, not real—“

“Yes. _Exactly_ like a sports team.”

Jaime couldn’t see robin’s eyes through the dark glasses, but he assumed they were doing the patented bat-glare. In any case Bart shut up.

“So what about you guys? What are your powers?”

Jaime looked over and realized Robin had long since finished his sonic cannon. Show off.

“Well it’s kind of complicated” Will said, shifting slightly in his seat.

“We’ve got time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have several more chapters written, but I'm gonna space them out b/c I got stuck and there's no telling when I'll actually continue writing it.


	5. The Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about how many times the POV changes in this one. I had a bunch of quick scenes that I needed to tell to move on with the story. Less POV swaps next chapter I promise.

He really, _really_ should have read the files more carefully.

Sure, he’d read them, but he’d read them in a 3AM caffeine induced haze, and now he was paying the price.

He’d spent most of the day trying to keep Jaime and Bart (well, mostly just Bart) from compromising the mission accidentally, and his complete inability to remember any of the Intel he’d read compounded the difficulty of the task. Not that the files were particularly detailed or useful.

All of which meant that instead of going upstairs and eating Alfred’s fresh-made dinner where it was warm and light, he was sitting in a damp dark cave while a plate of lasagna got cold on the console.

 _And_ he might be coming down with a cold. Great.

He’d finally found the file on Layla Williams and it was pretty much useless. Her mother was a retired hero who could talk to animals. Layla could control plants. No major medical history. Type A positive blood. That was it. No explanation for why her powers differed from her mother’s. No explanation for why she shared so much resemblance with a certain Arkham inmate.

He hit his head on the desk with an audible thump. Why is nothing easy? Why? Couldn’t he be put on a _simple_ mission for once? It would take hours to track down any actual information.

The intercom crackled to life. “Robin, report to the watchtower for debrief.”

Tim sighed. Layla would have to remain a mystery if he was going to get any sleep tonight.

 

* * *

 

Warren dragged himself up the stairs. Customers suck. They’d kept him hopping all night. He considered trying to finish his Mad Science homework. Nah, sleep first, consequences be damned.

He opened his bedroom door with the full intention to to fall asleep fully clothed on top of the covers. Unfortunately, the bed was already occupied.

“Hello Warren. Long time no see.”

 

* * *

 

Principal Powers wondered to herself whether these newcomers would bring more trouble to the school. They hadn’t had a serious incident since the beginning of last year. Royal pain and het cronies were shipped off to the new juvenile wing of Belle Reve, and everything had been quiet, until now.

She leaned over the faint glow of her office computer and put her face in her hands. What was she thinking, allowing a transfer? She should have just said no. But then again, how do you say no to the Justice League? People who do don’t usually last. Not that she hated the league or anything. She was the Principal of a school for super-powered teens after all. It was just… where the League goes, trouble follows. And placing Blue Beetle, a _known_ turncoat, at _her_ school couldn’t bode well.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the bus landing outside her window. Nor did she notice the shapes moving through the darkness toward the school. However, she did notice when one of those shapes zipped into her office with an audible whoosh of air.

“Hey, Principal Powers. You miss me?”

 

* * *

 

Will heard the door slam downstairs. Glancing at the clock (was it that late already?) he wondered if his parents were back from whatever they’d left to do.

He stuck his head out of the bedroom door. “Mom? Dad?”

“Close, but no.” Cracked a voice.

He scrambled backwards with a gasp. “You’re supposed to be in prison!”

“Really Will, I’m insulted. Did you actually think one of those flimsy collars could hold _me_?”  
            He threw a punch at the advancing figure. She dodged almost effortlessly.

“New upgrades. You like? They’re courtesy of my new friends.”

“New friends?”

“You couldn’t honestly expect me to run around with only high-schoolers forever. I even brought one of them to introduce you to tonight! Miss Ivy?”

“With pleasure.”

Will jumped. The voice was coming from behind him. Through his window. His stupidly, _stupidly_ open window. He didn’t have time to react beyond cursing himself, because the owner of the second voiced lunged in and snapped a collar around his neck before he could blink. He tried to punch her, ( _Miss_ Ivy, unsurprisingly, was a she) but she just caught it in one hand.

“Not so formidable without your powers hm? I’ll never understand what my daughter sees in you.”

Wait what?

Then something hit him in the back of the head, and everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another chapter. (tho there won't be a strict update schedule)  
> I really wrote myself into a corner. Hopefully I'll find a way out before I burn through my buffer.  
> Also, thank you so much for the nice comments :) they're helping me keep positive about writing this.


	6. The Search Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fewer POV swaps! (And a longer chapter this time)
> 
> as always, a super big thanks for the nice comments!

Layla was still half asleep as the bus landed at the school, and she was pretty much content to zombie her way through first period, but her half-nap was broken by a sudden chorus of shouts by the kids on the bus.  
She pealed her forehead off the window to look at what everyone was pointing at.

There, spray-painted across the front of the school in large, red letters was:

ROYAL PAIN IS BACK

WE HAVE PRINCIPAL POWERS

Suddenly alert, Layla threw elbows (sorry, pacifist principles, not today) to get off the bus first. Franticly, she looked around the front lawn, which was already full of kids milling around in confusion, shouting and pointing. (Nobody had made an attempt to enter the school yet)

Finally she spotted Zach, Magenta, and Ethan in a knot near the end of the bus runway.

She pelted over, skidding to a stop, nearly slipping on the grass. She panted. “Have you guys seen Warren or Will?”

Three heads shook in her direction.

“Isn’t Will on your bus Layla?”

“He wasn’t there today.” She chewed her lip. On it’s own, that didn’t mean anything. Will sometimes flew himself to school to avoid the cramped bus.

So why was she so worried?

“Just a sec.” She fished her phone out of her pocket.

She tried his number first. Voicemail. Next she tried his home phone. His mother picked up. “Hi Mrs. DeMarco-Stronghold, It’s Layla. Is Will there?”

“I don’t think so. He wasn’t here when we got home this morning. I assumed he already left for the bus.”

“He’s probably just running late. Thanks!”

“Bye Layla.”

Frowning, she tried Warren’s cell, only to get the beeping that indicted it was off or dead. She tied his home phone. Nobody picked up. Getting really worried now, she tried the restaurant.

“Hi, this is The Paper Lantern, how may I help you?”

“ Hi Ms. Peace, I’m Layla, I’m not calling as a customer. Is Warren there?”

“If he’s skipping I swear—“

“Oh, no, he’s probably just not her yet. Thanks Ms. Peace.” She hung up.

Ok Layla was legitimately worried now. If Royal pain really was back, then- No, don’t think about it.

“Are you guys sure you haven’t heard from them?”

“Haven’t heard from who?” It was the new guys appeared out of the crowd.

“Haven’t heard from _whom_ , Bart.”

“Really? Are you sure? Because—“

“You were asking a question.” Al prompted his friends to get back on topic.

“Oh, right.”

All three of them looked at her. “Will and warren. Nobody’s seen them. And they really need to hear about this.” She gestured to the school, deliberately not mentioning how worried she was.

“Why? What’s Royal Pain anyway?”

“Not what Bart, Who. Royal Pain is a villain around here. “ To everyone’s surprise, it was Al who supplied the answer.

“How’d you know that?” asked Ethan.

“News.”

“You don’t like to talk a lot. Do you?”

“mm”

“What he means by that—“ Bart cut in, “—is that he hasn’t quite woken up yet.”

“Can’t wake up if you didn’t sleep in the first place.”

“Dude, That is _not_ healthy.”

Layla cleared her throat. “Back to the matter at hand.”

Ethan looked a bit ashamed. “Sorry”

“We’ve got to find Will and Warren.”

“We can help…probably.” Jaime looked to Al at the last second, like he suddenly remembered he couldn’t commit his friends to something.

“No offense guys,” interjected Magenta, “but they’re our friends, and it’s not even like we can go looking now anyway. If they aren’t already here, they’re on the ground and we’re kinda stuck up here.”

“I can fly, but I can’t carry more than one person.” Jaime turned to Al. “You think you can fly one of those busses?”

Al seemed to consider it for a moment, before cracking the first smile Layla had ever seen on him. “Yeah, I think I can.”

 

* * *

 

It wasn’t, she reflected, the best plan, because it mostly boiled down to “Sneak back onto one of the busses before it leaves, knockout-gas the driver, (Where’d they get knockout gas?) and then trust a kid she’d met yesterday to safely drive (fly? Pilot?) a flying bus back to the ground.” In fact that was pretty much the entire plan, verbatim.

The weird thing was, it pretty much went off without a hitch.

They walked nonchalantly down the runway and up to one of the busses. Then, in the space of just a few seconds, Al sprayed Knockout gas in the driver’s face out of an Aerosol can and took his place at the wheel. The rest of them loaded up before anyone noticed what was going on.

And then they were off. It was a bit bumpy, but Al seemed to know what he was doing. Not for the first time, Layla wondered what the hell was up with that guy.

The whole situation was weird, and she was certain that the new guys were hiding something.

“We are going to be in _so_ much trouble.” Ethan’s sudden declaration pulled her out of her thoughts.

Across the aisle Bart smiled. “Yeah, but It’s also going to be _loads_ of fun.”

Just then there was a thump that sent everyone halfway out of their seats.

“Sorry!” Al piped up from the front. “We’re here.”

Sure enough, the boss had stopped in front of Will’s house.

They clambered out of the bus rubbing sore backs, necks, and bottoms from the jolt and filled up to the door. Layla knocked. No answer. She tried again, louder. Still nothing. His parents must be out.

“Great, whata we do now?”

“Here” Al, the last one off the bus, pushed his way to the front. He had some weird looking wires in one hand. Rather than picking the lock like she expected, he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a black cuff sort of thing. He pressed button on it and a holographic screen lit up.

He whistled, “That’s one hell of a security system.” Despite the claim, it was only a few seconds before the red lights on the screen turned green. He turned to the door and only another few seconds passed before it swung inward. He gestured to Layla. “After you.”

“Why don’t you guys—“ She pointed at Ethan, Zach, and Magenta. “—Check upstairs. If you don’t see him, look for clues.”

“But I—“

Whatever Magenta was going to say was lost, because Tim said: “Jaime you go with them. Run a scan.”

Layla looked startled at the commanding tone.

“Yeah, sure Ro- Al. Come on you guys.”

He dragged the others up stairs with him, leaving Layla with just Al and Bart, the latter of whom left to search the yard.

Al got out the holo-computer again, and appeared to be using it to scan the house.

“You’re worried. Why?”

She startled, and looked up from the coffee table. “I know I shouldn’t be. Both of them can take care of themselves. It’s just, Royal pain has hurt us before.”

Al squinted at her. At least she was pretty sure it was squinting. Hard to tell with the glasses.

“They were dating.” It was a statement, not a question.

“How the He- How could you know that?”

“Lucky guess. So, what happened?”

“She used him to get to his parents, then turned all the adults into babies, and almost dropped the school out of the sky.”

He nodded, completely unperturbed. “Seems suitably super-villain.”

Neither of them really had anything to say after that so the conversation lapsed into silence. Only a minute later a voice called down the stairs with a “Hey, I think we found something!”

They looked at each other, and then headed up the stairs.

“In here!” Jaime Called from Will’s room.

They pushed the door all the way open to find Jaime and the others bent of the windowsill.

“What’d you find Blue?”

“Okay, So I ran a wide-spectrum energy scan, and I picked up a couple of things. There’s a weird energy signature by the door—“ He pointed for illustration. “—But the interesting part is the signs of phytokinesis at the window.”

“Leaf creation? That’s probably just me.” Layla said.

“That’s what I thought too, but this is recent. Really recent, and unless you were over here at one in the morning…”

Everyone looked at her, and she blushed. “N-No, I wasn’t.”

“Yeah, anyway, that tipped me off, so I ran a scan for any weird signals. And guess what I picked up? An Inhibitor Collar.”

“Are you sure?” Al cut in.

“Positive, and, get this- it was calibrated for flight and super-strength.”

“So he’s not just skipping. Somebody took him. And probably Warren too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so the good news is, I got through where I was stuck. The bad news is I wrote myself into another corner 2k words later. So yeah. Updates will continue with some regularity for the time being but IDK about after that. Hope I can figure it out before then.


	7. We've Got a Plan

Will came to in a small, grimy room. His hands were tied to his chair behind his back. Not a good sign.

“Look who’s awake!”

Oh, Oh no. He hoped desperately that this was a dream, even though he knew somewhere in the back of his mind that it wasn’t. Because he didn’t think even his messed up brain could produce a scenario where Royal Pain teamed up with Poison Ivy and Professor Ivo.

At least, he guessed Ivo. They’d studied his robots in Mad Science, and the one’s here shared a design aesthetic. And Layla called him unobservant.

Royal Pain leaned over him snapping her fingers. “Hey! Look at me!”

“Geez Gwen, I didn’t know you were such an attention hog.”

She slapped him, which really hurt with the metal glove.

“The _point_ , Will, is that you and your parents are the only ones who can stop me. And they won’t be willing to do anything as long as I have their wittle boy.” She did her best maniacal laugh.

“There’s other heroes. They’ll stop whatever you’re planning.”

“Oh yeah? Like who? Your little friends? The washed-up nobodies you call teachers at that sorry excuse or a school? The _Justice_ _League_? Newsflash, all your help either doesn’t know, doesn’t care, or is _completely_ ineffective.”

“We beat you and your friends before.”

She threw back her head, flashing too-white teeth. “Those four imbeciles? They’re _barely_ more than glorified henchmen! I’m running with a _better_ class of villain now. I’m in the big leagues! Though of course, that sort has their uses. Such as taking care of your little friends. Permanently.”

“My fiends can handle themselves.” He said, though he couldn’t but feel a pang of worry.

“Ah, the false bravado. I’ve missed you, Will Stronghold. It’s why I want you around when my plans come to fruition.”

And with that, she turned and swept out of the room, leaving the Ivo-Bots behind.

 

* * *

 

When the bus touched down at Warren’s house, they already knew what they would find. Sure enough, Jaime confirmed the leftover energy signature from an Inhibitor Collar.

Layla had never heard of an Inhibitor Collar before Jaime mentioned it at Will’s house, and frankly she never wanted to again. She was familiar with the power-dampening properties of the detention room, but these collars sounded less like prison and more like…slavery.

Or maybe that was just because of the way Bart described them on the bus. He had this haunted look in his eyes that didn’t mesh at all with his normal sunny attitude.

She realized the trio of new kids was having a sort of whispered conference at the front of the bus. She leaned forward to hear the snippets that drifted back to her.

“—Mission—“

“Who cares? Three people were kidnapped!”

“—Compromise my ID—“

“You already gave a fake name.”

“—True that we can’t exactly turn a blind eye Rob, Bart’s right.”

“Yeah I know, let me call Aqua—“

She watched Al get off the bus, wondering whom he had to call. And what was that Bart said about a fake name?

Just then, Magenta leaned over and whispered: “They’re kinda weird aren’t they?”

“They’re helping.” Layla was more trying to convince herself than Magenta.

“They might be helpful, but I can still call them weird.”

Layla didn’t respond. She was too desperate to hear what Jaime was telling Bart. Whatever they were saying, it was too quiet to make out.

“Earth to Layla.”

“Sorry, what?”

Magenta Blinked. “Wait, ere you _eavesdropping_?”

Layla blushed. “No.”

“You totally were! I can’t believe this. Layla “stay in your own lane” Williams, eavesdropping.” She shook her head.

Layla, indignant, said, “I have a right to eavesdrop if I’m worried about Will’s safety!”

“Wait, are you… suspicious of them? They’ve done nothing but help.”

“Well,” Layla said, finally finding the words to express the feeling that had bothered her since this morning, “It is suspicious, isn’t it? I mean, Sky High’s first transfers ever showing up the day before this all goes down. Someone had to pull some strings, and there aren’t that many people who have that kind of influence. Royal Pain is one.”

“Do you really think Powers would let that happen?”

“I dunno, it’s just that she’s gone, and Gwen went to her school for three years and nobody figured it out.”

“It’s just—“ magenta glanced down the aisle to watch Al get back on the bus. “—They seem so nice. Heroic, even.”

“Just keep an eye out Maj, will you? We might have to run for it.”

“Okay, but—“

“Hey everybody!” Bart shouted. “We’ve got a plan!”

Layla glanced at Magenta one last time before joining the others at the front of the bus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this whole plan to spend my long weekend writing a bunch, but then yesterday I got SUPER sick and that plan kind of went out the window. Anyway, that's why this one is short, because I ended up splitting a long chapter into two so I can stretch my buffer out for another week.
> 
> Sorry about that!


	8. The Plan

“Okay,” Tim explained, “We can keep searching but it doesn’t look like any of our other sports-team friends can make it.” (Bart took that to mean they had no backup)

“So, Jaime has this nifty thing where he can track pretty much anyone, so long as he met them while armored up. Unfortunately,” Tim continued, “there’s something jamming the signal.”

“Royal Pain.” Layla spit it out like it was a swear word.

“Yeah. But the good news is that kind of thing would give out a signal itself, which means we could narrow down the location.”

Jaime spoke up “We’re detecting one signal like that in Gotham, and one in Jump. We know the Gotham one is there for a different reason.” (That reason being because Batman was a _paranoid_ bastard, Bart thought) “Which leaves Jump.”

“But Jump is huge!” Layla said, “We’ll never be able to find them.”

They’d finally reached Bart’s part of the plan. “That’s where I come in. This thing—“ He held up Tim’s Jury-rigged sensor. “—Beeps if there’s an Inhibitor Collar or Pod or Room within about half a mile. We should be able to narrow the search area.”

“Um, Guys?” Ethan piped up.

“Yeah, Ethan?”

“You’re all kinda ignoring that to search Jump we have to _get_ _to_ Jump. And I don’t think the Bus will make it.”

Tim smiled, tight lipped without teeth, which on him was a grin. “No, the bus just has to get to Sacramento.”

 

* * *

 

They stashed the bus in an alley three blocks south of the Sacramento Zeta-tube.

Tim signaled Bart to scout ahead. Tim didn’t see it, but Bart rolled his eyes. Leave it to Tim to send someone scouting a Zeta location.

He got back before anyone even realized he was gone. “Coast’s clear.”

“Good. We can go now.”

“Where are we even going?” Asked Zach.

Tim waited a moment to answer, stopping instead to look in a bakery window. He stage whispered “The Sacramento Zeta-Tube.”

“What’s—“

Tim cut him off: “you’ll see when we get there.”

It seemed like ‘getting there’ was going to take forever, because Tim kept slowing down to look at things like was trying to convince the world that they were just window shopping. Unfortunately the visible agitation of the others made that impossible.

By the time they got to the Zeta Bart was ready to run. Meandering down the street was exhausting.

Tim kicked over the activation lever (A.K.A. Aluminum can) and the Zeta doors slid open.

“Whoa!”

“Cool!”

“What is it?”

Bart noticed that Layla was the only one who didn’t say anything. She chewed her lip uncertainly.

“It’s a Zeta-Tube, a teleporter. I can get you guys authorized for a one-way trip to Jump.”

“Is that what that phone call was about?” Layla didn’t bother to hide the suspicion in her voice.

“Mostly. Lets go. The sooner we find them, the better.”

Says the guy who took fifteen minutes to walk three blocks, Bart thought.

Jaime stepped through first.

“Recognized: Blue Beetle B-22”

Crap. Bart looked at Tim. He forgot that the tubes read out classifications.

Tim just smiled and hit a button on his holo-computer.

It must have been a mute button because no sound came out when the others went through. Which was a relief.

When Bart emerged in Jump he heard yelling.

“Who the _fuck_ are you guys?”

“First the bus, now teleporters? What the hell?”

Jaime was trying to calm things down with some vague answer, but Layla spoke over him. “I think, at this point, you guys owe us and explanation.”

“She’s got a point Rob.”

Tim sighed. “I suppose telling you that time is of the essence isn’t gonna cut it?” seeing Layla shaking her head, he continued, “Well Kaldur said ‘necessary information’ so I guess if you’re demanding an explanation—“ He looked at Layla to make sure she was indeed demanding and not about to back down “—then I can tell you the important parts.”

He paused, gathering his thoughts. “Bart, Jaime, and I weren’t at Sky High for the science program.

“I knew it.” Layla interrupted.

“Can I finish?”

Layla looked only the tiniest bit embarrassed.

“We were there on a mission.”

“What? A mission for who?”

“If you keep interrupting me I’m never going to finish.”

“Sorry.” She didn’t look sorry.

“Four months ago, after the Reach invasion, was the first time anyone had ever heard of Sky High or any of its graduates.”

“What?”

“No way.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Tim shrugged. “We didn’t understand it either, which is why we figured something fishy had to be going on. So the three of us—“ he gestured “—Were placed there to find out what. But then this happened, and missing metahumans are more important.”

“Who was your mission for?”

“What?”

“Who was the mission for.” It came out as less of a question this time.

“I can’t tell you that?” Tim looked like he was maybe in a bit over his head.

“Was it for Royal Pain? Are you leading us into a trap?”

Tim hadn’t seemed to consider that she might think that, because he stumbled out “N-no, I just, I can’t tell you because it’s classified.”

“You’re here for the government?”

‘No, um—“

“Aqualad and the League sent us.”

“Bart!”

“What? She was going to find-slash-figure it out eventually. This is easier. And faster! And now we can go!”

Layla looked a little shocked, sharp contrast to Magenta, who looked smug, like she’d won a bet. Bart wasn’t sure why. The other two appeared to be at a loss for words.

It was Zach who spoke first. “You’re with the _Justice_ _League_?”

“Not strictly no, but we really should get going.” Bart was starting to think maybe he shouldn’t have dropped the JL-Bomb.

“Wait, wait wait wait wait wait. Wait. Re you saying that the JL has secret undercover teen operatives.”

Magenta gave Zach a look that could only be described as sarcasm incarnate. “Have you been paying _any_ attention to the news this last year? Remember when the Hall of Justice was attacked?”

“What do you—“

Bart cut him off. “I don’t suppose there’s any point in running 40 miles in civies now huh.”

Tim put his face in his hands and said a muffled sentence, which was most likely “No, go ahead and suit up Bart.” Or at least Bart took it that way.

As he sped off he heard someone behind him yell “He’s Kid Flash?” whoops.

 

* * *

 

He ran through downtown Jump, weaving through cars that seemed completely stationary, already slowed to a crawl by traffic.

It felt like he’d been looking for hours by the time Tim’s gadget beeped. He slowed up to a speedster’s approximation of a jog to run passed the area again. The device beeped again. He found the area where the device beeped continuously before radioing Jaime. (Tim didn’t have his comlink in)

“Blue, I think I found it. Robin’s thing is beeping.”

“Where are you?”

“Uh…” He looked around for a street sign. “It says 36th and Jackson.”

There was a pause and the sound of muffled voices.

“It’ll be a while ‘till we get there, so sit tight.”

Bart hated that idea, so he decided to scout instead.

He was turning on his third side street when he heard footsteps behind him. That should have been impossible. Nevertheless he slowed down to listen. Big mistake. Someone grabbed him from behind.

“Another speedster. This’ll be fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, not only is this late, it's just a bunch of talking heads. whoops. the next chapter is... ok it's not that much better. But! after that it's action! (though I haven't finished writing that yet whoops) Anyway, heres hoping that my creativity comes back after I finish my history paper and I can update more often.


	9. Time to Get to Work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now might be the time to tell you guys that I have absolutely no Idea where this is going. Normally I'm an architect writer, but i'm trying a gardener style this time, which might mean this is a mess. I did not plot this fic out ahead of time, and have only a vague idea of the conflict. Anyway, we can all plunge into this train wreck together!

By the time they got to Bart’s last known location the sun was dipping into late afternoon.

Robin led them onto a rooftop to scout the most likely location within two miles, a condemned apartment building.

While Robin watched the building through binoculars (the guy’s backpack was like a Mary Poppins bag) Jaime watched the SH kids, periodically attempting to comm Bart to no avail.

Layla and her friends looked distinctly uncomfortable and well, a little scared. Jaime couldn’t hold it against them, after all, they weren’t used to this kind of thing, and they’d had a bit of a shock.

Logically he knew Bart couldn’t search the city in civies, but still, seeing him run off in the KF costume may have been a bit more than these guys could handle. Layla in particular was still looking like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Jaime hoped it wouldn’t impact her abilities once they got into a real fight.

<The Metahuman larvae pose an unnecessary risk to the objective, Jaime Reyes. Recommendation: Eliminate>

“The ‘Metahuman larvae’ are the whole reason for this mission!” He whispered back. He was fairly certain Robin heard him but he made no comment.

<This delay is unnecessary. Let us handle the situation posthaste>

Jaime gritted his teeth. “No, Robin ranks us, we wait for his go-ahead.”

“Well,” Robin said, “The good news is that you’ll get that go ahead soon, the bad news is we’re in way deeper than we thought.”

“What’d’ya mean?”

“See the northern corner of the roof? There’s a mini surveillance bot. it’s Ivo-Tech. Which means we aren’t just dealing with some second-rate supervillains today.”

“Damn.”

“Has Bart called in yet? That's why. He's probably be captured.”

The idea of facing an unknown number of villains who could take out Bart without trouble with minimal backup was not a pleasant one to Jaime. And from the look on his face, it wasn’t pleasant to Robin either.

“Any chance of reinforcements?”

“None. Everyone else is either off world or working disaster relief or busy on other missions.”

“We’re screwed.”

“You don’t know the half of it. This isn’t a fight I can win in civies, which means we have to reveal to our new friends that we withheld information from them for the third time today.”

“At least it’s the last time right?”

“Hn. I’m just scared that they’ll stop trusting us entirely. Or that when it comes down to it, they’ll be ready and willing to hand over Robin and Blue Beetle to whomever is in there in exchange for their friends.”

“You trust them that little? I know we’ve only known them for a few days—“ he glanced over at the four young metas. “—But they seem like they’re OK. The sort of people who might be recruited for the Team.”

“It’s just that- we know so little about them, and trusting people, no matter how nice they seem, is a great way to get yourself beaten and blown to smithereens.”

That sounded like a very specific and traumatic example. Jaime decided not to ask. “Well we have to trust them. We don’t have any other options, especially if they have Bart.”

“Yeah. Well, here goes nothing.”

 

* * *

 

Layla watched Al and Jaime have a conversation on the other side of the roof. She wished she could hear what they were saying. Despite Magenta’s “I told you so” Look after the big “reveal” she still had a gut feeling those guys were hiding something. Especially Al. He was the kind of guy whose secrets had secrets.

She noticed the pair coming over, and shushed Zach and magenta, who seemed to be having an argument.

“Okay, so we’re ready to go in, but there’s a few things you guys should know. First, Bart’s MIA, which means whoever’s in there probably has him, and second, we haven’t been completely honest with you.”

Layla rolled her eyes. Wasn’t _that_ a surprise.

“What we said about working for the league was true but we… didn’t tell you everything. Still won’t, to be honest, but you need to know that, well…” He shuffled his feet, uncertain. “…I’m Robin.”

He silenced whatever they were going to say with a finger. “I only tell you this because this is a serious fight. Not one we can win in civies, and we need to get going. I’m going to go suit up, but in the mean time—“ he stuck a hand into his backpack. “—You guys need to protect your identities. Since you don’t have suits I’m going to lend you some of my spare masks.” He pulled four Robin-style domino masks out of his bag. “Adhesive’s already there, just peel the paper.”

And with that he was gone, leaving them with nobody to ask questions of except Jaime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyone catch my super-duper obvious reference to Jason? more on that next chapter (no, he's not in this fic as far as I have planned, but the story is important for teaching the SH kids that heroes aren't immortal. they live in a pretty sheltered world so teaching them how the real world works is gonna be important)
> 
> Well, I'm done with my research paper, and I can practically feel my creativity returning. this is the last chapter I had written as of three weeks ago, and I have half of the next one written. Hopefully I'll be able to write and update like a normal person from now on, though I might end up updating every two weeks rather than every week, because 2nd semester is hard.


	10. Pain in the Neck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry for just vanishing. I don't even have a good excuse. The good news is it shouldn't happen again (hopefully)

When the door opened again Will was expecting more interrogation or maybe food.

He was not expecting Lash, Speed, and Penny to drag in another prisoner.

Perhaps even more unexpected was the identity of the prisoner, because suspended between Lash and Speed was an unconscious Kid Flash.

Will watched as they dumped the kid on the floor of the cell. Lash looked like he wanted to say something but Penny grabbed him by the elbow and towed him out.

Will watched the speedster carefully. He couldn’t tell what had knocked him out but he certainly looked worse for wear. Though it was already shrinking, a black eye obscured his face, and his goggles were broken. Will noted that he had a collar around his neck just like the one Will himself wore.

After a minute the kid began to stir, shifting with a groan and slowly opening his eyes.

He looked around the room, eyes landing on a will. He took note of the collar and put his hand to his own neck.

A brief look of horror and anger passed across his face, but he hid it quickly. “We are _so_ moded.”

“Uh, what?”

KF rolled his eyes. (Impressive considering the black one) “Never mind.”

“So, Um, how’d you end up a prisoner?”

“Went looking for you and didn’t wait for backup.” He rubbed the back of his head. “You seen Warren?”

“Why were you looking for me?”

“Uhm, because you’re missing?”

“No, I mean, why you? Why not my parents, or my friends? I’ve never met you before.”

“Oh, _Oh_.” He said as something clearly dawned on him. “I’m in costume, right.” He paused for a second before saying “I’m Kid Flash.”

“I kinda guessed that much.”

He looked a bit embarrassed. “No, I mean, I’ve met you out of costume. Yesterday.”

For will, It finally clicked. “wait you’re Ba—“

“Augh! There’s cameras in here. Secret identities, remember?”

The way he said it sounded like he was new to the concept himself.

“Right, sorry.”

“’s OK.” He looked around the room again. “Where are we?”

“No idea. You mentioned backup?”

“Yeah. My friends. And yours I guess, minus Warren, even though they aren’t very experienced.”

Something else clicked in Will’s brain “So If you’re Kid Flash and your friend is Blue Beetle, who’s Al? Or wait, is that a secret ID thing?”

“No it’s fine, ‘s not his real name anyway. He’s Robin.”

“Robin as in _Batman_ _and_?”

That was Insane. Pretty much everyone at the school idolized Robin, especially the kids in Hero Support. He was the most famous sidekick, and non-powered to boot. Even the kids on the hero track liked him.

“Yep. The one and only. ‘cept actually there’s been three.”

“ _Three_ Robins?”

“You don’t think he had eternal youth right? The first one’s nineteen now.”

“Wait, what happened to the first two?”

“The nineteen year-old is Nightwing now. The second one… well he…”

Bart shut up, clearly conflicted about what to say.

“He what?” Will wondered what could possibly have happened to make Bart shut up.

“He died. In the line of duty.”

Oh, that would be it. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I never met him.”

Will wrinkled his brow.

“But Kid Flash and Robin always work together.”

“The first Robin and the first KF did. I don’t really.”

“There’s more than one Kid Flash?” First three Robins, then multiple Kid Flashes. Next he was going to learn that there’s two Wondergirls.

“Yeah.” He didn’t elaborate, so Will took the hint and changed the subject.

“How’re we gonna get outa here?”

“Shh.”

“What? Do you have a plan?”

“Shh! I hear something.”

There was something. A thump. Then the lights turned out.

“Backup’s here.”

“Woah.”

“Powers are back. EMP for the lights took out the collars too.”

Sure enough, when Will tugged on his restraints they broke. He yanked the collar off his neck, relived beyond measure. For a guy who only got his powers last year, he’d really gotten used to having them.

“What do we do now?” He asked Bart, uncertain.

“You kick down the door. Head downstairs. Look for your friends along the way. I’m gonna go have a rematch.” And with that he vibrated through the wall, and was gone.

Will stared after him. He felt like abandoning another prisoner with only vague instructions was probably not general superhero practice. He hoped KF knew what he was doing, though he doubted it. He seemed a bit…impulsive.

He backed up to the far wall and took a running leap at the door.

He’d been hoping it would fly out of the frame on impact, but it just bent out of place.

Close enough.

He scrambled through the gap and into the hallway, squinting against the darkness. It was no use, for all he knew there were a dozen people in the hallway. Or none. It seemed to be none, because nobody attacked him as he blinked, eyes adjusting. A bit of light filtered in from a tiny, grimy window at one end of the hallway.

He set off in the opposite direction of the light towards what he hoped was stairs, trying (and failing) to come up with a plan.

 

* * *

 

Layla rolled across the floor, desperately trying to keep the Ivo-monkey away from her face. Its talons dug into her arms instead.

Somewhere in her mind, she was aware that she was screaming.

That was when Al whacked the monkey with his staff and sent it flying.

He helped Layla up. “YOU OK?” He yelled over the Din.

“YEAH I’M FI— LOOK OUT!”

Al sent the monkey flying without even turning around. He pulled her over toward one of the lobby windows, where the light was better and the monkeys fewer, and examined the cuts on her arms.

He cursed and pulled a roll of bandages out of his belt. “These don’t need stitches, but they are nasty.” He started wrapping them up.

“Don’t you need to be fighting?”

He shook his head. “Jaime has it handled.”

“Why didn’t the EMP turn off the monkeys too?”

“Royal pain is a technopath. It’s likely she could shield them somehow.”

“Then what was the point of the—“ She stopped, hearing the fight suddenly get quieter, and turned.

Jaime had finished with the robots. They lay in heaps all over the floor.

Zach, Ethan, and Magenta were still pressed up against the wall where Layla had been too before that monkey tried to get her.

She felt a slight twinge of annoyance that none of them had come to help her, but she couldn’t really blame them. They didn’t exactly have the skills to fight robot monkeys yet.

“What happens now?” Ethan asked.

Al looked at the monkeys, and Layla could practically _see_ the gears turning in his head. “Royal Pain is here somewhere. As are Bart and most likely Will, Warren and/or Principal Powers. We don’t know how many other villains besides Royal Pain, but at the very least Speed, Lash, Penny, Ivo, and Poison Ivy are involved. Any one of them could be here.”

“So what do we do?”

“Normally I’d say we should stick together, but we wouldn’t want to find our people only to run into trouble. Blue, Zach, Layla, head upstairs. Make some noise. Try to draw them out. Do not engage if at all possible.”

“What about Ethan and me?” Magenta asked.

“You guys are with me. We’re going stealth to try and find the others.”

They split up, Al taking Magenta and Ethan through the air vents (“Gotta love these old buildings with crawlable vents”) And Jaime took Layla and Zach up the stairs.

She knew that Al—Robin— split them up according to how suited they were to stealth, but being separated from her friends made Layla leery.

They walked around the second floor, kicking down doors, but nobody jumped out to fight them.

“Hey uh, Blue? It’s a little dark.” Layla observed.

“Oh right, sorry.” He pointed vaguely towards his face. “Night vision. Zach, you glow, right?”

“Yeah!”

“Glow it up, I guess.”

Zach was just starting to glow when they heard a huge crash from upstairs. Everyone exchanged startled looks.

“We have to get up there.” Layla said.

“Yeah, we should—“

Another huge crash cut Jaime off, and then the ceiling opened up, depositing Will and a whole bunch of debris onto the floor between them.

“Hey! Guys! I found Royal Pain. Also, I’m gonna take a nap now, if that’s OK.” He promptly passed out.

“Well, Well, Well.” Everyone looked up to see Royal Pain descend slowly through the hole in the ceiling. “Look who else came to join the fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually think I know where I'm going with this story... kinda. There'll either be another chapter this week, then a two week gap (Spring break) or no chapter, then a two week gap with updates resuming after that.


	11. Well That Went Fast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of this chapter happens concurrently with the last one, just in different places, if that isn't clear from the writing.

Bart raced from room to room. Trying to find the speedster who’d gotten to drop on him. He hated being taken by surprise like that.

Usually, he was the one surprising people. He was the one who knew what was going to happen.

The idea of evil speedsters who were good enough to catch him was unsettling, to say the least.

Of course, Bart had all those thoughts in the .75 seconds it took to search the floor he was on. Up or down? Down most likely meant rendezvousing with the others (they probably entered on the ground floor, not the roof, because the EMP indicated that they weren’t looking to be stealthy) Up almost certainly meant he’d get his rematch, but it also meant facing an uncertain number of villains alone.

After about .1 seconds of hesitation (which for him, was _A LOT_ ) he went up.

The third room he checked up one floor held what looked like a security rig and a table with a pizza box. There was still one slice of pizza inside. Bart took it (He was hungry, okay?) And scanned the room for where the people in here might have gone. They probably only left a minute ago (When the EMP went off) considering the pizza was still warm.

Just then, he heard a huge crash. It sounded specifically like the crash of a person flying through a floor and/or wall. Bart hoped whoever it was wasn’t hurt. Unless it was a bad guy. Screw them.

The sound reminded him that he ought to be searching, not eating pizza, and he was off again.

The rest of the floor, and the next two up yielded nothing but a small, long distance communicator (which he held on to) and the machine, which transmitted to keep the inhibitor collars working (which he vibrated to bits and then gave a few kicks for good measure)

The next floor up was the roof, which made Bart certain that everyone in the building had gone down.

He raced back down to the floor just below the one he started on, and resumed his search there.

He didn’t have to search long.

 

* * *

 

Tim held back a cough. Air vents in abandoned buildings were full of dust, and also not nearly as large as he’d like them to be.

Magenta and Ethan were having an easier time of it. Ethan were having an easier time of it. Ethan was sliding along all liquefied (which- weird, even with all the crazy powers Tim had seen) and Magenta was plodding along in her guinea pig form. (Which was _slightly_ less weird)

They’d made it to the third floor, and Tim was careful to look out the heating grates of every room he passes. So far, he hadn’t seen anyone. With the lights off, the building seemed like it was actually abandoned like it was supposed to be. That changed in the next room they got to.

The room was empty of people, but it had a large device in one corner. Tim recognized it as the type of device that could jam Blue’s tracking ability.

While he contemplated coming out of the vent, the door opened and someone stuck their head in. Tim tensed, ready to bolt, but then he realized who it was.

“Will!” Magenta squeaked.

Will did a double take. “Guys! Hi! What are you doing in a vent?”

“Rescuing you,” Tim said, “Where’s Kid Flash?”

“Uh, he ran off. Said he wanted a rematch or something?”

Tim silently cursed how impulsive Bart could be. “He can handle himself. Now come on, we’ve gotta go.”

“Yeah I—“

Just then, the door swung open again and Will whirled.

“Oh dear, look who got out of his cage.”

Will shifted left a little bit, blocking the vent from Royal Pain’s view. “I didn’t like the accommodations,” He quipped, “I thought I might check out early?”

She growled. “I’m going to make you wish you hadn’t done that.”

Will lowered himself into a decent approximation of a fighting stance. “You can try.”

Royal Pain lunged across the room, grabbing Will by the throat and lifting him toward the ceiling.

“I will.” She said, then turned and chucked Will through the wall.

 

* * *

 

Jaime kept his eyes on Royal Pain while Layla and Zach (mostly Layla, as Zach had skinny arms) dragged Will out of harm’s way.

Royal Pain didn’t move to stop them. She was examining Jaime as intently as he was examining her.

Finally, she spoke, “You heroes are so stupid. They sent a _technology_ -based hero to deal with me? Me? The idiocy.”

She raised her arm, and all of a sudden the scarab was _screaming_ in his head.

She made a beckoning motion, and Jaime’s arm twitched involuntarily.

She growled and did it again, more forcefully, and it took all of Jaime’s strength to keep from moving. It would’ve been easier if he could focus over the scarab’s screaming.

She dropped to the floor and strode forward. Jaime found he couldn’t move out of her reach.

She put her hands on either side of his head. “Obey Damnit! You’re just a stupid computer!” Jaime had a feeling she wasn’t talking to him.

Jaime felt electricity crackle off her palms, and the scarab’s screaming rose to an even higher decibel.

To his surprise, she released him. She took half a dozen steps backward. She dropped to her knees and pressed her hands to either side of her head. Her helmet pealed back and Jaime could see that her mouth was open in a silent scream.

Though he could still hear it, the scarab’s screaming faded as if it was far away, and he could pick out words again.

<Restoring functionality>

There was a whirring sound, and Jaime could move again.

Royal pain still had her hands over her ears, as if the could stop the screaming in her head.

Jaime stepped closer to her slowly. He felt sore all over for some reason, and the scarab was still screaming, though now he understood that all that was keeping Royal Pain incapacitated.

When he got close to her, she twisted to look up at him. “How… are… you… doing… that!?” She hissed.

He leaned over. “Lady, nobody controls me.”

<US>

“Nobody controls _us_ ,” He corrected, “Not the Reach and certainly not C-grade supervillains like you. Scarab, shut her down.”

<Authorize lethal force? Y/N>

“ _Non_ -lethal, scarab.”

For a split second the screaming in his head rose to a shriek, then cut out. Royal pain slumped to the floor, unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably won't have anther chapter up until I'm back from vacation, but then there should be pretty regular updates. Hopefully.


	12. Gonna Need Some Ibuprofen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back, and I’ve found a beta reader! If you notice a remarkable increase in readability and far fewer typos, it’s all thanks to the absolutely wonderful [rlb190.](http://archiveofourown.org/users/rlb190) Thank you sooooooo much.

Layla watched in disbelief as Jaime dismantled Royal Pain without ever even touching her. Pain slumped to the floor as Jaime straightened up to his full height, grumbling. “Oh man, am I gonna have a _killer_ headache.”

“How’d… how’d you do that?” Layla asked, at the exact same moment as Zach exclaimed, “What the hell!?”

“Woah, woah, just… calm down.” Jaime held out his hands in a gesture that would have been pacifying- if it didn’t remind Layla of how he used them as plasma cannons. “She uh, she tried to control me. My armor, I mean,” he corrected himself. “She got a little more than she bargained for. She accidentally tapped into the scarab’s frequency, so we just, uh, ‘overloaded the electrical pathways in her brain.’” He paused. “We don’t like being controlled.”

Before Layla could ask who the “we” he was referring to was, someone appeared in the hole in the ceiling.

“You guys alright down there?” Robin called down.

“Doing fine!” Jaime replied. “You got any handcuffs? She’ll be inconsciente… er- _unconscious_ for a while,” He stopped and tilted his head to the side like he was listening to something, although Layla didn’t know what. “At least two hours. But cuffing her anyway wouldn’t hurt.”

Robin tossed at pair of handcuffs down to Jaime, who knelt back down to secure them on Royal Pain’s wrists.

"What should we do now?" Jaime asked.

Robin thought for a second. "We still have to find KF, and we don't know how many villains are still here so--"

Suddenly there was a whooshing sound, and another voice cut Robin off. "Well I'm here, and I searched the building and only found--" Three more whooshes. "These three. So..."

Layla couldn't see what was happening up stairs, but she could hear Robin's long-suffering sigh. "You should have rendezvoused with us first."

"Yeah," Bart agreed, "But I really wanted to show this guy," A slight thump. "Why he shouldn't pick fights with superior speedsters."

"KF, don't kick the prisoners."

"He gave me a black eye!"

"And it's already healed. It doesn't give you the right to kick him."

"He's a lame kicker anyway." A voice Layla recognized as Speed's said.

 _Thump_.

"Ow!"

"Bart!"

"He put an inhibitor collar on me!" Layla could tell by the way Bart's voice went a little shrill at the end that the collar was what he was really upset about, not the black eye.

"I know you have issues with those things, but--"

Layla heard a yell that echoed from somewhere above. "Hey Robin! Is it safe to come out yet?

Robin blinked, confused, before remembering their other companions.

"Yeah Magenta! Sorry, I got sidetracked!"

Magenta and Ethan appeared above them. "Hey."

Layla realized something, someone, was missing. More than one person, actually. "Okay we found Will and Bart, but where's Warren and Principal Powers?"

Bart leaned over the side so he could look down at her, face contorted in thought. "As far as I can tell, Will and I were the only prisoners here. Ivy probably took them with her, wherever she went."

Robin swore. "Gotham. She must have taken them to Gotham."

 

* * *

 

Warren woke up face down on the floor. He momentarily wondered if he'd rolled off his bed in his sleep like he often did after a long shift.

That was when he remembered that his bedroom had carpet. This floor was cold and concrete.

He jerked fully awake, pushing himself off the floor. His hand went up to his neck, which was weirdly cold for some reason. He felt smooth metal under his fingers. Inhibitor collar, most likely. His father had to wear one of these now. It was a condition of his early parole.

A tongue clicked to his left. "I was beginning to think you'd never wake up."

He jerked away from the speaker before twisting around to look.

The speaker was a she, Warren noted as her eyes and crossed her legs on the little stool she was perched on. "Relax. If I was going to hurt you I'd have done it already."

He finally recognized her. "Poison Ivy."

She smiled coldly. "Correct."

He skipped the pleasantries. "Why am I here?”

Ivy pressed her lips together into a thin line, hiding all but the edges of her lipstick, which, if Warren remembered correctly, probably contained some sort of toxin. "You're quick. How I wish my daughter had stayed with you instead of the Stronghold boy. Things would be so much easier. You are here for two reasons. One: bait, and two: I have a job offer for you."

Warren had gotten used to the "join the dark side" spiel over the years, so he focused on the other thing. "Bait? For whom?"

"Maybe you're slower than I thought. You're here for my dear daughter, of course. I would have liked to have the Stronghold boy as well, but Royal Pain insisted on having him. Since she's the one who informed me of the location of my child, I couldn't begrudge her that."

"Royal Pain has Will." Warren muttered, more of an affirmation to himself rather than a question. He honestly hadn't heard anything she said past that. Royal Pain had a grudge against Will and a mean streak a mile wide. If she had him… that couldn’t be good.

"Yes, That's what I said. Are you listening to me, Mr. Peace? I'd hate to have to repeat this." Her words were nice enough, but her tone promised retribution for his inattention.

"Sorry Miss Ivy. Or can I call you Poison?"

Her mouth twisted angrily, and Warren could hear Mr. Boy's voice in his head. _If a super villain is holding you hostage, don't antagonize them_.

Welp, Warren had just thrown that out the window.

Ivy clenched her fists like she wanted to strangle him, but then unclenched them, as if she had forced herself to relax. “If I did not need you to bring my dear Layla to me…” She threatened.

Suddenly, everything she'd been saying clicked. Being with Will, being with him. Well shit. "Wait, Layla's your daughter!?"

She looked at him like he was stupid. "Have you been listening at all?" She said indignantly.

Warren knew that anything he said would just make her more angry, so he just kept silent.

She sighed. "This is your last chance, Mr. Peace. Join us. Help me retrieve my daughter from those who took her from me. Live up to your father's legacy. You would be greatly rewarded."

"Lady, my dad's gone straight; he made parole this year. Go. To. Hell."

She pursed her lips. "I am certain you will come to regret that, Mr. Peace. But no matter. I can do this without your help." She stood, and swept out the door.

It wasn't until after she left that Warren realized he would have been better off pretending to accept her offer. At least he'd know more about what was going on. Now he was stuck.

Great.

 

* * *

 

When Lynda woke up, she was confronted with the face of a slightly runty middle-aged man. She startled and scrambled backwards, towards the wall of the small room she was in, reflexively trying to call on her power. Nothing happened. She reached for her neck. A cold metal collar sat there. So they had the resources to get ahold of inhibitors.

The man smiled. "Welcome, Ms. Powers. Or would you prefer Principle? How do you do?"

She composed herself as best she could. It would do no good to allow these people to see her frazzled. "Who are you? Where am I?" She didn't manage to keep fear entirely out of her voice, but it would suffice to fool anyone who didn’t know her well.

"How rude of me! I am Professor Ivo, and you are in Gotham. The docks, to be exact."

"What is--"

He held up a finger. "Please, no more questions at the moment. You would just ask about why you're here and what I want, which I promised I wouldn't explain until Miss Ivy returns."

She opened her moth to protest, but then the door swung open.

Ivo looked up. "Ah, Miss Ivy. How was your conversation with the boy?"

Judging by her expression, Ivy's conversation hadn't gone well. "He declined." She said deadpan. Lynda could tell, however, that she was hiding curling rage underneath her cold glare.

Ivo shook his head. "These hero-type children. Don't know what's best for them." He turned back to Lynda. "Of course, I believe Ms. Powers here will be more... receptive. After all, a teacher always wants to protect her students."

Lynda's blood ran cold. They were after the children. Her children.

Ivo continued talking. "You see, Ms. Powers, My associates and I were particularly interested to hear from Miss Pain about your school. The reach may have left Earth, but they made several breakthroughs in metahuman research. Research the Light hates to see go to waste. Unfortunately, we are having… difficulties, acquiring test subjects."

Lynda had gotten the idea where this was going. She hadn’t been out of the game _that_ long. "I won't give up the children, if that's what you want."

The Professor gave her a tight smile. "What makes you think you have a choice?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn’t find Principal Powers’ first name, but she’s played by Lynda Carter, so I named her Lynda for simplicity.  
> We’re heading into the final stretch here. I’ve got everything plotted out pretty well, and I’ve got a couple chapters written in the back of my math notebook, so all I’ve got to do is type them. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish this soon.  
> Also, get hype for Young Justice: Outsiders! Now I just have to figure out how I’m gonna pay for a new streaming service…


	13. To Gotham

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to [rlb190](http://archiveofourown.org/users/rlb190) for beta reading!

Will sat on the cold park bench and held Layla's hand like it was the last thing in the world. He watched, detached, while Robin argued with someone on the phone. He still felt a little shell-shocked. Everything happened so fast. Being kidnapped, waking up, getting rescued, it all blurred together in the adrenaline-fueled haze that often went hand in hand with this sort of thing.

Layla squeezed his hand. "You alright?"

He squeezed back. She seemed like a mind-reader, sometimes. "I think I'll be fine."

She looked at him, searching his face for something. "You will be? You aren’t now?" She prodded gently.

"I'm just... still processing," He said, "A lot's happened."

"Yeah." She heaved a sigh. "And it's not over yet. So much for a normal school year, right? But what’s normal anyway?" Layla trailed off as she looked at Will’s face.

“Laya… do—“ He shook his head. "Do you," He hesitated, the plowed ahead. "Do you think we'll find Warren?"

She looked at him sharply. "Don't even talk like that. Of course we'll find him."

Will thought of his best friend, captive of who-knows-how-many villains, in Gotham, of all places. "How can you be so sure?"

Her expression flickered, and he almost expected her to say she wasn’t sure at all, but then her determination returned as quickly as it left. "Because we have to. Because we've got three honest-to-god, tried-and-true, world-class superheroes with us. Because one of them is Robin, and Gotham is his home turf. We _will_ get him back." Who she was trying to convince, Will wasn’t sure.

Will did't mention that Gotham was Poison Ivy's home turf too. "You really think so?"

"Of course I do. Now, come on, we've got to sort this out."

She tugged him to a standing position, pulling him to where Robin was still on the phone and Kid Flash and Blue Beetle were talking quietly.

"Just for a second." Robin was saying. "That's all Blue needs to get a location on them."

A pause.

"Yes, I know that's enough time to get a location on you too, but it's not like your location is going to be that informative. People go places."

Another pause.

"Even if the scarab figured it out, who's Blue going to tell? He has his own secret ID to protect."

Will gave Layla a questioning look, but she just shrugged and mouthed, _"His superiors."_

Robin was nodding. "Yes. Okay. It's 7:30 here and it might take a minute to get to a zeta anyway. We'll drive at maybe 11:00 Gotham time. If you leave early, we'll be set." Robin nodded again, then seemed to remember he was on the phone. "Affirmative. Yeah. Robin out." He hung up, turning to face everyone. "Alright, we should be set. We've got a plan. We'll Zeta to Gotham, and I've arranged for the tracker-jammer to get turned off for a minute. That will give Blue a location on Warren and Principal Powers. We scout the location, come up with an attack strategy, and go from there. Still no backup, but it's Gotham so..." He trailed off, letting whatever he was about to say about Gotham remain unsaid.

“I already arranged for the four we left to get picked up by a meta-prepared police squad, so we can deploy."

Will tried to follow everything Robin said. He had the feeling that Robin had already dumbed down the whole speech, yet he still couldn't quite understand what half of it meant. Figuring it was better to look stupid now than mess up later, Will spoke up. "I'm sorry, what's a Zeta? And how can, ah, Blue, track Warren?”

Robin blinked. Or at least, Will thought he blinked. The mask didn’t blink, but it did twitch a little. Creepy.

“Sorry,” Robin said, “I forgot you weren’t here for that part. Zeta Tubes are teleporters. Blue Beetle can track anyone he’s met while armored up. Long range DNA detection, I think. Does that make sense?”

He didn’t sound condescending, so even though Will was only marginally less confused, he nodded. “Yeah, makes sense.”

Ethan raised his hand like he was in a classroom. “Um, how exactly are we getting back to the zeta tube? I don’t think riding the bus is going to work so well with the costumes.”

Robin smiled. “Like most big American cities, there’s more than one zeta here. The nearest one is actually pretty close. If I’d known where we’d end up we would have taken that one in the first place.”

Kid flash shifted from foot to foot. “ _Alrightnomoretalkingcanwegonow_?”

Robin huffed, pulling a grapple gun out of his belt. “Yeah. We can go.”

Twenty minutes and one slightly disorienting zeta trip later they were in Gotham. Which was pretty cool, considering how it was on the _opposite side of the country_.

They didn’t ever leave the alley with the zeta in it. Robin just made another call, and then Blue Beetle announced he had a location on Warren _and_ Principal Powers. In the same place, even. Though that wasn’t necessarily a good sign.

Since the location was down by the docks, Robin took them right back through the Zeta. This time, it put them in an area smelling distinctly of polluted river, the air thick with the scent of musty rotting fish.

Zach opened his mouth to ask a question, but Robin hand signaled for silence. To everyone’s surprise, Zach actually shut up.

Robin leaned closer and activated something on his gauntlet. All of a sudden, something looking a lot like a hologram computer popped up. Robin typed something one handed, and then the hologram screen displayed two images: monochrome mugshots of a man and a woman.

“I should have done this before,” Robin whispered, a hint of embarrassment in his voice. “But this is Poison Ivy – real name Pamela Isley, and Professor Anthony Ivo.” For some reason, he eyed Layla warily as he said this. “There’s a likelihood that other villains will be there as well, and I’d go over known associates if it wouldn’t take me hours. Watch these two. We’re going in with no backup and less intel than I’d like. We still don’t know why two A-listers would help Royal Pain and the kiddie squad with her revenge scheme, but there must be something in it for them. Keep your guard up. Watch your back. I’m assigning partners, because it’s easier to only worry about one other person in a fight. Ethan’s with KF. Zach’s with Blue. Magenta, you’re with me.” He stopped and looked at Will and Layla. “You two are together. Is that okay with everyone?” His tone did not invite dissent.

KF spoke anyway. “Actually, Blue and I—“

“No.” Robin cut him off. “I need you watching the new guy’s backs.” He glanced at Will briefly. “No offense to you guys, but you’re relatively untested in battle.”

So that was why he’d paired them up like that. It kind of stung, but Robin had a point.

“Is everyone clear?” Robin asked. After he received seven nods, he continued, “Then let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

Ivy returned only a few minutes after she stormed out. This time she had Principal Powers in tow.

Powers hesitated in the doorway, but Ivy dragged her forward, Power’s heals dragging along the floor. A man entered after her.

“You didn’t agree to the easy way, so you don’t get to refuse the hard way,” He said.

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Ivy added helpfully.

Warren knew enough about supervillains to guess what was about to happen, but he still startled when he felt one of Ivy’s vines wrap around his neck while others went for his wrists and ankles.

“Don’t squirm.” Ivy warned him. “I’d hate for something… unfortunate, to happen.”

Warren felt a thorn scrape along his throat, scratching his skin just enough that he felt a drop of blood roll down to his collarbone.

Ivy snapped back around to face Principal Powers. “Standard setup here. You tell us what you’ve been using to keep your little metahuman community hidden, and the boy _doesn’t_ die a slow and painful death.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The vine around Warren’s neck tightened slightly, drawing a bit more blood. “Don’t lie, Miss Powers. It only wastes time.”

“Don’t—“ Warren’s vice caught in his throat as the vine tightened, constricting his air even more. He was starting to feel a bit light headed, but tried to keep still with false calm.

For a second, it looked like Powers was going to hold. Which Warren really appreciated from an ideological standpoint, but didn’t really enjoy from a self-preservation standpoint. Warren was still undecided about which was more important to him when she relented.

“There’s… a Meta.” She said.

The vine loosened slightly, and Warren couldn’t help but gasp from relief. “Go on.” Ivy prompted.

“When…” Powers hesitated, glanced at Warren, and the went on. “When the metahuman population in the area got large enough to found the school, my predecessor realized we would be on the radar for all sorts of unsavory characters. Professor Medulla and a telepath going by Crania came up with a plan.”

At this, she hesitated again, eyes flicking to Warren. He shook his head almost imperceptibly, trying to convey a message of ‘ _Don’t tell them anything important, whatever it is. I’ll be fine.’_

She continued anyway. “They built a device. Housed in the school, it sends out a continuous low-level telepathic signal that affects the non-meta population of the area, influencing them to keep quiet about any meta-related incidents.”

The man leaned forward, eyes gleaming with interest. “What kind of device. How does it work? What, exactly, is the signal?”

Principal Powers kept direct eye contact with him, clearly trying to convey honesty, but her voice came out closer to aggressive. “I don’t know.” She said shortly. “It’s not my job to know.”

Ivy smiled in a way that sent a chill up Warren’s spine, and the vine wrapped around his neck shifted, getting dangerously tight. Another thorn dug into his skin. More blood began to trickle downwards, crimson drops already starting to form a pool on the concrete floor. Warren struggled to keep his cool. “Are you certain of that?” She whispered, voice low and dangerous.

“Um.” Principal Powers steeled herself, eyes flicking to Warren. He shook his head again, the threatening dig of the thorns making it impossible to speak. But the threat of him getting hurt must have still been enough because Warren could see her composure break just a bit more with each drop of blood that fell.

“I know that it needs a telepath to power it.”

“Ah,” The man said, “Now that _is_ interesting. Where is this telepath?”

She blinked. “I- I don’t know. It’s classified, even to me. It could be anyone in the area.”

The man leaned forward. “You must know something—“

“Ivo!” Ivy snapped. “You’ve asked your questions. I want to know how this woman stole my daughter from me.”

The man- Ivo- glared. “The Light—“

“I don’t care about the Light!” Ivy’s voce went dangerously shrill. “You know my conditions!”

“Fine.” Ivo said. “Ask your questions.”

“Leave.” She demanded. “I want privacy.”

Ivo threw up his hands. “Fine!” Don’t waste too much time. Someone will come looking for them eventually.” He stalked out, muttering, “ _This_ is what I get for working with an Arkhamite.” He slammed the door behind him.

Ivy withdrew the thorns, leaving just the vice-like grip of the vine around Warren’s neck, snaking under the inhibitor collar, and refocused on Powers. “I know you had something to do with taking my daughter from me. You, _Batman_ , and that animal-speaking woman.” She clenched her fist and the vines on Warren tightened enough to make breathing difficult.

“Your— you mean Layla Williams?”

“Layla _Isley_.” Ivy hissed.

“All- All I did was help place her with a family. We were the only ones who could find a family for a metahuman child.”

“You _took_ her from me!” Ivy shrieked.

“I- I was told you gave her up. I wasn’t even aware that _you_ were her mother, just that she was a second generation metahuman in need of a home.”

Ivy made a growling sound deep in her throat. “You must have guessed.”

“I—“ Principal Powers struggled with something. “It seemed likely, yes, but I was never certain.”

Warren couldn’t stop himself. “You knew?” He burst out. “ _Layla_ doesn’t know!” At least, Warren thought she didn’t. “You’ve been lying to her for her entire life!”

Powers flinched. “Her mother made that choice. Not me. We figured she’d find out when the time was right, or whenever she realized how unlikely her power set would be if she were her mother’s biological child.”

Ivy’s lips drew tight. “You _lied_ to her. You took _my_ daughter, my greatest creation, my greatest _success_ and you _lied_.” Ivy stretched out a hand, and vines streaked across the floor toward Principal Powers, who flinched backwards.

Warren, panicked, shouted, “Stop!” As loud as he could manage with his shortness of breath. The vines hesitated and Ivy turned to Warren, her eyes blazing with anger. “And You, Battle’s son, you—“ She started.

Whatever she was going to say was lost in a resounding crash somewhere else in the building.

“Ivy, Get out here!” Ivo yelled from outside. “We’re under attack! It’s those damn children!”

Ivy swore and gestured. The vines shifted, pulling Warren down to the floor, then dragged him to the wall. Ivy tightened the vines that were keeping Powers up against the wall there she’d been standing near during the interrogation. “We’ll finish this later.” Ivy hissed, and ran out.

Warren heard another few crashes and a muffled shout, and then Principal Powers was talking.

“I’m sorry,” She said.

“It’s okay.” Warren whispered, his voice hoarse. And he meant it, too.

She shook her head. “No, I’ve brought this down on us. I never should have agreed to transfer Royal pain to Belle Rev.”

Warren was shocked. He’d always thought of Miss Powers as more of a Dumbledore type, always one step ahead. Never feeling like she needed to justify her actions to anyone.

“Is Layla really her daughter?” He asked.

“It fits. But…” she hesitated, looking away.

“What?’ He asked, struggling to speak properly.

“Isley is sterile as a consequence of her powers and the toxins she uses. If she is related to Layla, It’s not in the traditional way.”

Warren felt like he was missing something. “She said… she called Layla a creation. What—“ He looked up at Principal Powers, hoping to find answers on her face.

She met his eyes. “Isley has tried cloning, in the past. It’s possible Layla us… one of her experiments.”

Warren blinked. Layla, a clone? Of Poison Ivy? That wasn’t possible.

_Was it?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOME STRETCH! ALMOST THERE! WOOOOO!


	14. The Warehouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [rlb190](http://archiveofourown.org/users/rlb190) was absolutely indispensable in getting this chapter out. It had a l o t of problems. Thank you so much!

Tim led the others up to the roof of the building next to their target. “We’re going in from the roof.” He paused for a moment, scanning their surroundings.

“Will, Layla, your job is to get Warren and Principal Powers out as fast as you can. Avoid engaging the enemy if at all possible. Wait for the distraction, then get in and out. That clear?” Layla nodded, and then elbowed Will, so he nodded too. Tim was glad Will and Layla didn’t question getting put on a stealth objective despite their rather flashier skillset. He just hoped it would be enough to keep Layla away from Ivy. He could always share his suspicions later, but the mission was the important thing right now, and information like that- true or not- could emotionally compromise her. He tried not to feel guilty about it as he went on.

“Everyone else is going to be a distraction. We’re going to make some noise, Okay?” The group nodded. Tim swallowed the nerves he still got in scenarios where leadership fell too him.

“Okay. Deploy.”

Tim turned, sprinted the few steps to the edge of the roof, and jumped, clearing the ten-foot gap between the buildings easily and landing in a safety roll with barely any sound. He came out of the roll right next to a skylight he’d sighted earlier. He peered through the grimy glass, making note of where Ivo-bots were likely to be hiding as well as where doors led to offices likely to contain the people they were here for.

He heard a slight hum, which meant Blue was hovering over his shoulder. Tim stepped back and hand-signaled Blue to fly through the skylight. Blue obliged and the crash of breaking glass echoed around the largely silent warehouse. Tim jumped down after him twisting in the air so he could grab some of the scaffolding instead of falling all the way to the floor.

He glanced up at the skylight to see Magenta slowly lowering herself to the scaffolding, and then switched to scanning the shadows.

Blue’s abrupt landing on the floor, or maybe breaking the glass, triggered Ivo’s security measures and throughout the warehouse Tim could see lights blinking on. He shifted so he could reach his belt more easily and readied his staff. This was going to be one hell of a fight.

 

* * *

 

Bart realized pretty quickly that a roof entry wasn’t going to work for him. He couldn’t fly, and he wasn’t a crazy ninja acrobat like Robin, so he ran back down the side of the building and through the wall.

Jaime was already fending off an onslaught of monkey-bots (M.O.N.K.E.Y.’s?) and seemed relived when Bart knocked a few of the leaping ones off course, running into them with enough velocity to cause them to shatter against the floor.

“We’re definitely- oof- in the right place.” Jaime said.

A monkey went down with an electric birdarang in its neck and Robin landed behind Jaime. “I sure hope so,” He said, “Otherwise we’ll have some explaining to do about breaking that skylight.”

Bart laughed, kicking a monkey straight into Blue’s plasma beam. Suddenly remembering that he had a partner to watch out for, he looked around for Ethan and found him sliding that last bit of the way down one of Robin’s grapple lines hanging from the skylight.

Bart ran over and smashed sideways into the first monkey headed for Ethan. “You set?” He asked.

“Uh, yeah. Look… um, if I’m going to slow you down…” Ethan trailed off.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Bart said, “I’m not going anywhere. That’s Will and Layla’s job. You guys really need code names, huh?” Speaking of Will and Layla. Bart looked around, spotting Will fending off a stray monkey while Layla snuck around him and investigated one of the offices in the corner of the warehouse.

Bart turned back to Ethan. “Try to trip some of the monkeys up if you can.” Ethan said something, but Bart missed the reply in the blur of acceleration.

He always loved this bit. Before he got tired from all the fighting, when the world stood still (Or well, almost still) around him. It gave him plenty of time to think. Contrary to popular belief, Bart did think before he did things, it was just that where he came from, hesitation meant death. So he learned not to hesitate. Things were so complicated these days. It almost (but not quite) made him miss the simplicity of life Before, or even the simplicity of when he had his mission. Stop the Reach. Stop Blue Beetle. Back then Bart had an enemy and an objective. Simple. Now…

Well, now he didn’t really have either, and he had to deal with things that he’d put off during the mission. Things like _feelings_.

Back during the mission, Bart could ignore that Jaime was cute and sweet and funny because _now’s not the time_. But well, now kinda _was_ the time, and Bart had no idea what to do about it. It made things complicated.

Bart rammed his shoulder into a monkey fast enough to break it in half. Huh. Maybe he had some aggression to work out. He was still buzzing from the panic of waking up with an inhibitor collar around his neck. He’d been fine until he found the other speedster- _Speed_ (what a stupid name) again, and then his vision just… went red. It all happened too fast. (And yes, Bart understood the irony of that)

He hadn’t meant to kick a prisoner while he was down, especially not in front of Robin, but well… He wouldn’t say he had _issues_ with the collars exactly. Issues implied that he had an ongoing problem with them even when they weren’t on _him_ , which wasn’t true. He just really, _really_ didn’t like them. They brought back unpleasant memories of pods and labor camps and Reach scientists just _delighted_ to experiment on a third generation metahuman. Besides, most things that would be considered dishonorable or illegal or war crimes in this time were common practice in the Reach’s future. Survival always came before honor. Bart had learned that the hard way.

And if keeping himself off mode wasn’t survival, Bart didn’t know what was.

Okay, maybe he had issues.

It wasn’t like they were the sort of issues he could talk to Black Canary about during psych evals. He’d figure it out eventually. After all, he’d come back in time to kill the Blue Beetle before his rise to power, and look how well he’d dealt with _those_ issues. Blue was still around, and hey, not even evil.

He’d be okay. And if not, he had friends to help him through it. Like Jaime.

To be honest, just being around his best maybe-someday-more-than-friend was helping him deal with a whole plethora of issues. Beginning with the yes-I-can-get-attached-to-people one and ending with the Blue-Beetle-is-not-the same-as-in-the-future one.

He took out anther half-dozen monkeys, checking on Ethan twice, before he tripped on something. The world came crashing back into real time and Bart, now going the same speed as everybody else, swore shamelessly, seeing the vines crawling across the floor. Poison Ivy had entered the fray.

 

* * *

 

Layla checked the third office. Empty again. Behind her, she could hear the sound of Will punching a hole through a monkey, so she went on.

She looked out across the mostly empty warehouse space, hoping to find a clue to Warren’s location. There was another row of offices on the other side, but they’d have to avoid getting caught in the all-out brawl in the middle.

Will ripped off another monkey’s head and joined her in surveying the floor, seemingly thinking the same thing as Layla. “If we stay close to the wall…” He trailed off, thinking.

“Wait, look.” She said, pointing to a catwalk (one of the only ones left intact after their skylight entrance and several minutes of battle) on the other side of the vats warehouse. Something stood there. It was shadowy and dark, but it looked like a man’s figure.

“Ivo?” Will asked.

“He could be directing the monkeys. If we—“ Layla started, but Will stopped her by grabbing her arm.

“Uh, Layla, are you doing that?” He whispered urgently.

“Doing what?” She asked before she noticed what he was staring at.

Vines snaked down the walls and across the floor, attacking heroes and monkeys alike.

“No. No, that’s not me.” She whispered. She had a sinking feeling in her gut.

“Well, shit,” Will said, “Ivy.”

Layla nodded, scanning for where the threat might be, and there, across the building, framed in the doorway of one of the offices, was Poison Ivy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I return! only one more chapter left (which may be split into two parts) and then an epilogue. Woo!


	15. Mother Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [rlb190](http://archiveofourown.org/users/rlb190) was, again, super helpful beta'ing this.

Layla’s breath caught in her throat. Even across the large, open space she could tell that Ivy was watching her, something akin to hunger in her eyes.

Ivy shifted and the sudden onslaught of vines stilled, leaving most of the combatants on the floor tied up, though it looked like Ethan had managed to slip his bindings.

Ivy raised her arm, and Layla tensed. She didn’t know how her powers would fare against Ivy, but she knew that it was up to her, the only other plant metahuman around, to protect everyone else from whatever tricks Ivy tried.

But the villainess didn’t attack. Instead, she picked her way across the floor, stray vines following her like ducklings after a mother duck. She easily dodged the sloppy punch Ethan tried to throw. With a quick flick of her hand Ethan flew backwards and into some empty crates. Ivy continued her path, her heels clicking ominously on the floor, reverberating throughout the warehouse. It almost sounded the same way that Principle Powers sounded when she strutted through the hallway, on her way to bust some kids for skipping class. Despite herself, Layla almost laughed at the absurdity of it, and watched as a vine wrapped itself around a half-functioning monkey robot missing an arm and half a head. The vine tightened, and the robot was crushed to metal bits.

Ivy continued across the floor, footsteps echoing off the walls, never taking her eyes off Layla. Layla was frozen, not in fear, but in a sort of tense readiness.

Will moved like he intended to step in front of her, but a flick of Ivy’s wrist had a vine pull his feet out from under him. Will was dragged backwards, the vine still tied around his ankles. Every time he tried to rip a vine up, another grew back in its place, like some kind of eco-friendly hydra monster.

Ivy crossed the last few feet between them and Layla tried to step backwards, forgetting she was up against the office wall. No way out. She was unable to recover from her blunder before Ivy was on her.

Layla was ready to resist a tackle, she was ready to block a punch or a kick, but she wasn’t ready for Ivy to wrap her arms around her gently.

Was— was Ivy _hugging_ her?

Layla was so caught off guard that it took her a moment to realize Ivy was speaking.

“—dear Layla. I though I’d never see you again. I thought Batman burned you like he burned all my other babies.” Ivy’s voice was choked with emotion, almost cracking from the effort of words. She hugged Layla tighter, and it seemed so _wrong_ to attack her, this lady with her strangely gentle hug, that Layla just stood there, letting it happen.

“I’m not— I don’t—“ She stammered, unable to come up with a cohesive statement.

“Shh Baby, I know. But we’re together now, we’ll figure it out.”

“I don’t— I don’t know you.” Layla finally managed to spit out.

Ivy released her, holding her by her shoulders at arms’ length. Her mouth was spread into a soft smile, but there was anger in her eyes.

“They never told you you’re adopted?”

“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.” Layla said. Of course she knew she was adopted. She figured it out as soon as she gained a basic understanding of genetics and realized that here was no way she got flora-related powers from her fauna-powered mom or her telekinetic dad. It hadn’t mattered. They had a family talk about it when Layla brought it up and cried and talked about it and Layla figured that it was better not to ask where she came from. Her parents obviously cared for her. They raised her! Her birth parents didn’t take to her to school for the first time or taught her to swim or cheered her on at her first track meet or took her to the hospital when she broke her leg at that first track meet. So, she never mentioned it again, not even to Will.

“It has to do with _everything_ , my daughter.”

 _Daugh- what? Oh. Oh!_ That was what Ivy meant, but there was one thing…

“But you’re sterile.”

Layla recalled this, familiar with Ivy’s state because of the time she heard it mentioned on the news when she was six and asked her mom if plant powers meant she couldn’t have kids. Her mom had laughed in a strangely sad way and (after telling her she better not have kids before she was married) informed her that Ivy was only sterile because of the toxins she used, it had nothing to do with her powers.

Ivy smiled at her. “First and foremost, I’m a scientist. I found a way. But I thought I lost you and Luthor stole my cloning technology before I could try again.” She caressed Layla’s face. “But I’ve found you now, my child, my greatest creation.” She pulled Layla back into a hug.

Layla shivered. She couldn’t seem to make sense of any words after ‘cloning’. There was no way. Layla would know if she were a clone, right? She’d feel different, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first draft was hyper focused on Layla to the point that it seemed like no other characters were in it, rlb190's wonderful beta'ing that it got fixed. Thank you!
> 
> one more half-chapter and then the epilogue! the next chapter should go up later this week.


	16. Mother Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to [rlb190](http://archiveofourown.org/users/rlb190) for beta reading this! I needed a lot of help for continuity this chapter, and I got it.

Over Ivy’s shoulder, Layla caught Robin’s eye. He was about halfway through sawing off the vines holding him down.

More than a year of tactical lessons told Layla to keep Ivy talking while her companions got free, but her raging thoughts had her paralyzed, staring at Robin. Did _he_ know? Did he suspect? He’d been looking at her while he briefed them about Ivy. She thought it was because he expected her to handle Ivy’s plants, but now… He knew, or at least suspected, the whole time, Layla realized. The whole time.

A wave of anger overcame her. At Robin, at her parents, but mostly at herself for never trying to find out were she really came from. But then she remembered sitting with Warren before his dad’s parole hearing, watching the tortured, conflicted look on Warren’s face as security escorted some rather rude news reporters out. She thought of what other kids said about Warren, even after they defeated Royal Pain. How could the son of a villain ever become a hero? Statics showed that children of evil parents were evil too. Warren had fought all of that by himself for years until he met Will and Layla. Her parents, Robin, they were just trying to protect her.

Layla’s anger started to drain away, leaving her feeling almost empty. They were trying to protect her. They were saving her from heartache. They wanted her safe. They wanted her not to feel weighed down by the weight of her biological mother’s crimes, like Warren did with his dad’s.

Ivy seemed to finally realize that Layla’s mind was elsewhere. “My child?” She started to twist to see what Layla was looking at, and Layla’s training finally kicked in. She had to keep Ivy talking. Layla drew her eyes from Robin back to Ivy.

“I…” Layla said. Ivy turned back to Layla, who breathed a silent sigh of relief. Robin was cutting away at the vines, Ivy too distracted with Layla to notice. “I just can’t believe it.”

Ivy’s face softened. “I know this must come as a shock. I’m sorry I didn’t seek you out sooner, but I’d like a chance to be your mother.”

“I already have a mother,” Layla said, and Ivy’s face grew hard. _Careful_. “I mean,” she amended, “I’d love to have you as part of my life—“ That wasn’t precisely true. Layla wasn’t actually sure how she felt yet. “—But I can’t leave my life behind. I’ve spent my whole life living with people who do care for me—“

Ivy’s eye twitched, so Layla quickly went on, “not that you don’t. But I can’t just leave.”

Ivy seemed to relax. She was clearly trying to seem calm and collected to make a good impression. “Of course. I wouldn’t ask that of you.”

“Ah- good,” Layla stammered, watching Robin slip out of his bindings, distracted by the escape.

Robin signaled Kid Flash and the speedster blurred for a second and all the vines on him dropped to the floor.

Layla was just watching Blue’s bindings start to shift when Ivy spun around with an indignant squawk.

She lifted her arms to ready some sort of attack, but before anyone could move, Layla shouted, “Wait!”

To her surprise, everyone actually hesitated. Even Ivy. Ethan, however, still had not reemerged from the cardboard boxes. “I have to—“ Ivy said, as the vines on the floor started to shift.

“No. No you don’t,” Layla pleaded. “ _Please_ mom,” If felt weird calling Ivy that, but Layla knew that was the only thing that might get through to her. “You don’t have to fight my friends.”

Ivy looked at her. “Layla—“

“Listen. I want to get to know you; I want to talk to you. I don’t want to fight you. Please.”

“You don’t have to—“

“If you attack, then I do. You kidnapped some of my friends and you hurt them. Help us bring Ivo in. Prove that you’re willing to make an effort.” She took ahold of Ivy’s hands. “Please. For me.”

Ivy bit her lip. It was a strangely childish gesture on the nearly six-foot villainess she was. “I—“ She said, searching Layla’s face for some answer. “—Alright.”

“Really?” To be honest, Layla hadn’t dared to hope it would actually work.

Ivy nodded. “For you.”

Over her shoulder, Robin relaxed slightly, but didn’t drop out of his defensive stance.

The sound of whipping vines filled the warehouse, but Layla couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Then there was a yelp, and vines dragged Professor Ivo off one of the catwalks and onto the floor.

He glared at Ivy. “You traitorous bi—“ A vine wrapped around his mouth before he could finish.

“My first loyalty is to my daughter, Ivo, not the Light.” She turned back to Layla. “I’m sorry, my daughter, I have to go.”

“Wait—“ Layla said, both because she wanted to apprehend a supervillain and because she wanted to know more. More about where she came from and more about the woman who clearly had some genuine care for Layla if she was doing all this. “Please stay.”

Ivy shook her head. “Robin wants to throw me back in Arkham. I’d rather not.”

For the first time in several minutes, Robin spoke. “You don’t get a choice, Ivy.”

Ivy smiled, but it was an angry smile, not soft like the ones she’d been giving Layla. “It’s cute that you think that, boy wonder.”

All along the many vines in the warehouse, flower buds appeared. As each opened, they released a puff of pink spores, obscuring Layla’s view of the others. Magenta, in guinea pig form, started to sneeze adorably before she morphed mid-sneeze back to human. Zach started coughing.

Ivy hugged her one last time. “I’ll see you soon, my child.” And then she was gone, vanished into the cloud of spores.

The air cleared a few moments later, and Layla was relieved to see that they weren’t poisoned or anything.

Layla pulled Will up from the floor as Blue Beetle was cuffing Professor Ivo. Suddenly, Layla realized that Robin was nowhere to be seen. “Where’d Robin go?” She asked.

Blue looked a little awkward. “After Ivy, I think.”

Before Layla could ask how Robin followed Ivy through the pollen, she heard a shout from one of the offices n the other end of the warehouse.

“Hey! Anyone there!?” It was Warren’s voice.

Layla started running for the door, but apparently Ethan had beaten her there. He had beaten everyone there, actually.

Later, Layla would find out that after being tossed into the cardboard boxes, Ethan snuck into one of air vents and navigated the way into the office where Warren and Powers were.

Will jogged up next to Layla and raised his eyebrows. There must have been a few seconds of confusion to how Ethan had gotten there when Principle Powers cleared her throat politely. Will, Layla, and Ethan turned to face Warren and Principal Powers sitting inside, wrapped up tight in vines, some dried red stains on the floor the only thing revealing any sort of distress.

“Hey guys. Little help here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter ended up being more of a full chapter rather than a short epilogue, so yay, i guess? that'll be up sometime between now and when I go to Germany, hopefully closer to now, but IDK.
> 
> Almost done!


	17. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to [rlb190](http://archiveofourown.org/users/rlb190) for being an awesome beta for this whole thing and getting this chapter back to me despite her computer troubles, and also for reminding me that I needed some bluepulse in this fic. And for coming up with the new title. You rock.

Layla held Will’s hand tight enough that if he didn’t have super-strength he’d probably have pulled away by now with several broken fingers. Robin had reappeared a minute before the police arrived, informing everyone that Ivy got away.

He looked at Layla while he said it.

Everyone else went to handle the police and Ivo, but Will and Warren stayed behind with Layla, Will holding her hand, Warren talking about nothing in particular, the same way she’d talked to him outside the courtroom before his dad got paroled. She was as grateful for the distraction now as he’d been back then. It really hadn’t been that long ago, but it felt like ages.

When Warren finished a comment about how mad his mother would be at him for missing shifts at the restaurant, Will tugged Layla closer so she was leaning on him. “You going to be okay?” He asked.

“Yeah, I think so.” She replied, though the truth was she had no idea, and both Will and Warren probably knew it.

“Listen, if you ever need anyone to talk to about it,” Warren started, “I’m here. This isn’t quite the same as me and my dad, but…” He trailed off.

Layla mustered a smile. “Thanks Warren.”

Warren gave her a small smile back, and for the first time Layla noticed how much happier he seemed. He was happier than he should have been at the moment, having been kidnapped by her biological mother and held hostage and all, but it was different. He seemed different. Maybe it was his dad getting paroled, maybe he’d been reassured of something during his imprisonment, or maybe he was just grateful he was alive, but he seemed a lot calmer, more self-assured and comfortable. Being a hero really was his calling. Layla couldn’t help but smile to herself as she imagined Warren making it big, even joining the Justice League. It was funnier because she could actually see it happening in the future. If any of them were ever going to be national-level superheroes, it would be him.

Privately, she was pretty sure that Will would get out of high school in a couple of years and realize that he didn’t want to be a superhero, not full time, anyway. He was mostly doing all of it to please his parents, and someday soon he’d come to terms with his reservations about the superhero gig.

As for Layla, well, She’d always wanted to use her powers for good some other way. She had always imagined a future traveling out to third-world countries, helping with famine-relief efforts, or maybe she would end up in a science lab, developing new, tougher, higher-yield crops or better ways to protect the environment.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about that second path now, knowing whom her biological mother was.

Warren looked over his shoulder to where the police and first responders were. Magenta was pointing the EMT’s to where Warren was. Warren turned back around to face Will and Layla.

“As much as I’d love to stay and talk, I should go before Magenta sics those paramedics on me.” He walked away, leaving Will and Layla alone.

Will squeezed her hand. “I can’t pretend to understand, but I’m here too, okay?” Will said.

Rather than answer, she just leaned farther over. Whatever she had to figure out- and she had a _lot_ to figure out- her friends would be there to see her through it.

“Thanks.” She said simply, hoping that he understood that it was for more than just the comforting words.

 

* * *

 

Jaime held his phone out above his head, waiting for Bart to text back.

In the mess of turning Ivo over, exchanging phone numbers with the Sky High kids, debrief, and then realizing that it was approximately so-late-it’s-almost-early o’clock, he hadn’t had a chance to talk to his best friend.

Honestly, he was kinda worried about Bart. Kicking a prisoner while he was down wasn’t exactly the sunny speedster’s regular style. It wasn’t even Bart’s style when he was upset, but then again Jaime wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Bart furious.

Of course, Jaime knew better than anyone that Bart used his cheeriness as a shield, but still, he didn’t expect anything like… that. It made him wonder if he really knew _Bart_ at all, or if he only knew the Impulse persona. And lately it felt like Bart was keeping secrets from him again. The last half-dozen times they hung out together, the scarab had made a point of informing Jaime that “The Impulse’s” heart rate was spiking whenever Jaime got too close.

Jaime worried that Bart was still scared of him.

He couldn’t blame Bart if he was. Even _Jaime_ had nightmares about the Reach’s future, and Bart only had given a few vague descriptions for Jaime to go off of. Bart _lived_ it. But it still hurt whenever Bart flinched away from touch.

Especially since, y’know Jaime kinda liked him. As in, what Milagro would describe as _liked_ liked him.

Jaime’s phone dinged. Bart had replied to Jaime’s “hey, are you OK?” text with “fine!” and a turtle emoji.

Jaime had no idea what that meant.

He tapped out a quick answer. “R u sure? U seemed kinda freaked out”

Bart’s reply was instantaneous. “I’m ok. Really”

“If u say so” Jaime replied.

There was a momentary lull in the conversation, and Jaime decided to ask something important before Bart turned the conversation to like, Internet memes or something. Not that Jaime didn’t enjoy memes, but now wasn’t the time.

“Hey Bart, are you scared of me?” He hit send before he could talk himself out of it.

Bart didn’t text back right away. It was a bit worrying. Once Bart actually bothered to fish out his phone and reply, his responses were almost always immediate.

After what seemed like ages, but was really only a few seconds, Bart replied. “no. why?”

There was no knowing if that was the truth, but Jaime decided to treat it like it was.

“idk. You’ve been acting kinda strange around me lately.” Jaime typed back.

Again, Bart took a concerning long amount of time to reply, and when he did it was a surprise.

“Can we talk?”

That sure was weird. Since when did Bart ever ask before saying something?

“Uhh, sure?” Jaime sent, waiting for the phone to buzz with a long text or a phone call, instead, he just got four words.

“B there in 2.”

“Wait!” Jaime texted back, panicked. “Don’t come 2 my house! Meet out in the desert where we hung out b4.”

A split second later, Bart replied, “k”

 

* * *

 

Bart ducked down the alley that held the closest Central City Zeta tube. Normally he’d prefer to run, but this would get him to El Paso faster.

He’d really fucked everything up bad. He knew it the second Jaime asked of Bart was afraid of him _via text_. Text! He knew that things had been kinda weird between them ever since the Reach left, but Bart hadn’t even spared a thought to being afraid, and he was certain the weirdness between them didn’t warant a serious question through _text._

Sure, if you looked at it logically, it wouldn’t be that crazy if he was afraid. He certainly had been before. But once they got Jaime off mode the fears Bart carried since childhood seemed to evaporate.

Fear was the last feeling on his mind when it came to Jaime lately.

He emerged from the El Paso Zeta and made a beeline for the rocky area he’d been to once before.

He skidded to a stop next to the pile of rubble left after the last time they came here, and started scanning the sky for Blue. He didn’t have to wait long, because he spotted the telltale glow of Blue’s wings coming over the ridge almost immediately.

Jaime landed next to him and de-armored. He hesitated. “Hey.”

Bart tried for a smile, very much not thinking about what he’d come here to say. “Hi.”

Jaime rubbed the back of his neck, sensing the tension in the air. “So, uh. What did you want to talk about?”

Bart took a deep breath, deciding to just get it over with, despite the rapid tap dance his heart was performing in his chest. _“I’mnotscaredofyouandI’msoryyyouthoughtthatandalsoIkindahaveacrushonyou? Maybealittlebit?”_

Jaime blinked. “Okay, even the scarab didn’t get that, so maybe a little slower?”

Bart took a couple of breaths. “I uhm, I may have mislead you with the whole acting kinda weird thing? It wasn’t because I’m scared.”

Jaime looked away. “Then why?”

“I, uh.” Bart fidgeted a little bit. He had no idea how Jaime was going to take his next statement. He wasn’t the type to be angry or bitter about it, or let it effect their professional partnership, but their friendship? Bart couldn’t be sure.

“I might have abitofacrush on you.”

“What!? I can’t believe you!”

Of all of the reactions Bart had considered, that was not it. “Sorry?”

Jaime’s eyes widened. “No- not you, the scarab.”

“Why would the scarab be involved in this?” Bart asked, confused.

“He told me you were having a fear reaction whenever I touched you!” Jaime paused. “Well that’s what you insinuated!” He paused again as Bart watched the one-sided conversation with mild amusement. It was strange to see Jaime seemingly talking to himself, even after all this time he’s known his friend.

“Well excuse me for taking that information and jumping to the logical conclusion.” Jaime went on, prompting Bart to raise and eyebrow.

“How was me being terrified of you the logical conclusion?” Bart asked, genuinely curious.

“Well I didn’t…” Jaime floundered. “I thought it was wishful thinking!” He blew out a breath of air. “I thought that y’know, I was just like, projecting on you, like, that I was reading too much into it. And the scarab is really great at making information sound sinister.”

“Wait, wishful thinking?” At this point, there might as well have been an inhibitor collar around Bart’s neck, his brain was moving so slowly.

Jaime froze, then slowly relaxed until he was kinda slumped over. “I guess it’s my turn for confession time, huh?”

“That would be nice.” Bart said, unable to bury the sarcasm.

“Well.” Jaime rubbed the back of his neck again. “I- I kinda like you too, I guess? I had a lot of time to think while I was on mode, and I realized a few things. I wasn’t going to mention it.”

Conveniently forgetting that he had fully intended to keep his feelings from Jaime indefinitely up until a few minutes ago, Bart asked, “You weren’t?”

Jaime got a little defensive. “Hey! I didn’t think you felt the same way, plus no offence, but you’re almost three years younger than me.”

Bart was confused. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Jaime blinked. “Three years is a big gap, especially at our age. My little sister is only three years younger than you.”

 _Oh_. This was one of those things that he forgot about the past. Things like age mattered here. By the time Bart left, he was only a winter away from being considered a fully-fledged adult in the future. People just... didn’t live that long. They didn’t have time to wait for age gaps to matter less.

He ought to consider a longer lifespan a luxury, but right now he really hated it.

He slouched forward. “I guess that makes sense.”

Jaime put his hand on Bart’s arm above the elbow, and Bart looked up.

“We don’t have to do anything about it now,” Jaime offered, “We can just keep doing what we’ve been doing, and then maybe, in a couple of years, we can re-evaluate? We can still, you know, hang out and stuff.”

Bart nodded. A couple of years sounded like an eternity, but he was willing to wait. After all, this was Jaime. His best-maybe-probably-someday-more-than-friend, who was currently giving him a slightly awkward but incredibly endearing smile.

Yeah, Bart could wait.

 

* * *

 

Lynda Powers watched Robin warily across her desk. “Is the Justice League done meddling in my business now?”

Robin didn’t deny the meddling. “We’ll be out of your hair, yes.”

“And Layla Williams?”

“Batman placed her here so she could live in a relatively normal life. Nothing about that has changed, and whether she wants contact with Poison Ivy is her choice.” He stood and stepped toward the door.

“Did you know, when you arrived?”

He stopped in the doorway. “About?”

“Layla.”

“Batman was… thorough in hiding that information, for her protection.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Robin was silent.

Lynda took that as a no. “There’s one thing I don’t understand.”

“And that is?”

“Batman knew about us years ago. Why send operatives now?”

Robin seemed to consider the question for a beat.

“Because your disguise was slipping. We wanted to know why.”

“Did you get your answer?” She asked, keeping her tone neutral so as to betray none of her feelings on the matter.

“Yes.”

Lynda sighed to herself. He clearly wasn’t about to reveal his conclusions.

Robin hesitated another beat, and then spoke. “A bit of free advice, Ms. Powers. With Royal Pain and the Reach both drawing your little community out of hiding, it might be time to let go of the secrecy. It’s a dangerous world out there, and you need all the help you can get to protect these kids.”

“And I’m supposed to take that advice from a child younger than half my students?”

He gave her the slightest smile. “Take it from a fellow hero. We all just want to do right by the kids here.”

“I don’t need the League’s help.”

“No? Your secret is out now, what with the Strongholds making their national début and the Light’s attention. Secrecy might not be in your best interest anymore.”

Lynda remembered for a moment the call she got, fifteen years ago now, when Robin’s mentor told her that remaining a secret would be in the best interest of the child he wanted to place in her community. “It’s worked so far.”

“The world is changing, Ms. Powers. The question is, will your school keep up with it?” And with that, Robin left, leaving Lynda to mull over the precarious nature of the future of everything she was sworn to protect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! Thank you everyone who read this story!


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